Two years ago, when a Hollywood film called Escape from Black Water got made in Kerala, Yadhu Krishnan, a native of Kottayam, was roped in as its writer. A Merchant Navy official who is on the sea for four months a year, Yadhu busies himself with film projects whenever he comes on vacation. And this time, he will be spending his vacation directing his first film, a Hindi movie titled Kaal Chakra where Dalip Singh Rana, Indian-American wrestler known as The Great Khali, will play an important role in the film.
“I met him as part of the English film,” he says. Settled in Mumbai, a Hindi film seemed most natural for Yadhu, for whom writing began in the days he was a student in Mumbai, when friends pulled him into working on ad films.
At one point he decided to write for himself and made a short film called Choice, which won him an award at the Bioscope Global Film Festival and let Yadhu sponsor the education of a child. “Every winner is given funds to sponsor a child’s education. I chose to fund the education of the grandchild of my domestic worker,” Yadhu says.
When Escape from Black Water team came to Kerala, Yadhu got introduced by VA Dilshad Pippy, the cinematographer of the film who happened to be another Malayali. The film is directed by E Ellis Frazier. Paul Sidhu from Punjab played the male lead in the film about an American citizen trapped in a jail in India. The jail was constructed underground by another man from Kerala, Akhil Raj Chirayil.
"I want to thank Dilshad and Paul Sidhu for trusting me with the screenplay of the film," Yadhu adds.
He will be working in another Hollywood project with the same team. But before that, he’d like to finish his Bollywood film with Khali. “It will be an action film, revolving around a tribe in India,” he says. He also has plans to work on a Malayalam film later.