The cinematographer of Prithviraj’s Nine, Abinandhan Ramanujam, recently shared a few behind the scenes videos of the film on Instagram, and it’s going viral among netizens. The videos give a glimpse of how the film was shot and the efforts that have gone into it. The first video posted by the cinematographer was a single-shot fight sequence.
Sharing it, Abinandhan wrote: “BTS of Nine the film. Fight (1/2) We Stitched the Fight to a Single Shot. Working with @jenuse.mohamed was Blissful.”
For the second video, he wrote: “BTS of Nine (2/2) Mafia Shashi Sir was making his sea of Experience into Magic. @shameer__muhammed cuts merged my shots smoothly (sic).”
Directed by Jenuse Mohamed, Nine starred Prithviraj, Prakash Raj, Wamiqa Gabbi and Mamta Mohandas in the lead roles. Its technical crew included Shaan Rahman for composing music for the songs and Sekhar Menon for the background score. Abinandhan cranked the camera and Shameer Muhammed was the editor.
Nine was bankrolled by Prithviraj’s wife Supriya Menon under the banner SPE Films India and was distributed by Sony Pictures, marking the production and distribution house’s entry into the Malayalam film industry.
Recently, a writ petition was filed in the Kerala High Court by a group of filmmakers alleging that the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy had violated section III (6) of the awards guidelines in allowing Nine to compete for the awards. Director Jenuse is the son of Kamal, the chairman of the Academy. According to the guidelines, jury members and their close relatives are prohibited from competing for the awards.
The petition states: “The same had reflected in the 2018 awards where Carbon, directed by Bina Paul’s husband Venugopal, had won six awards and Aami, directed by Kamal, had won two awards. Kamal and Bina Paul are members of the executive board of the Academy that recommends the jury members to the Department of Cultural Affairs. This time, a film by Kamal’s son has been entered in the competition. This is a clear case of nepotism and must not be allowed to happen again.” The case is posted for hearing on September 18.
Prithviraj currently has Aadujeevitham in his kitty. The film is directed by Blessy and bankrolled by KG Abraham under the banner KGA Films. Amala Paul plays the lead opposite Prithviraj. The film’s technical crew includes Resul Pookutty for sound designing, KU Mohanan for cinematography and Raja Muhammed for editing. Aadujeevitham will bring Oscar-winning music director AR Rahman back into the Malayalam film industry.
Prithviraj was last seen in Ayyapanum Koshiyum, which released in February this year. The film had Prithviraj and Biju Menon playing the title roles. Sachy had directed this film.
(Content provided by Digital Native)