'Theevandi' director Fellini opens up about his famous name

When Kozhikode native Dr TP Nasar, who was an admirer of the French–Italian new-wave cinema, named his second son Fellini, after the legendary Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, he wished his son too became a director. As young filmmaker TP Fellini makes his debut through 'Theevandi', starring Tovino Thomas, it is nothing short of a tribute to his father who had taught him to dream about movies.

Fellini speaks about his experiences in filmmaking and also about 'Theevandi'.

What is 'Theevandi' all about?

This movie has got nothing to do with trains. It is a political satire in the backdrop of a rural setting. It is in fact a small film like KG George’s 'Panchavadipalam', which effectively combines the innocence of the rural set up with the genuine humour of political satire. The hero in this movie is a chain smoker.

In the villages, such people are jokingly referred as 'Pukavandi' or 'Theevandi' (steam train). It just became the title of the film as well.

How did Tovino react to his role?

I don’t think the new-age cinema and the actors are worried about any images. They always appreciate good movies. It was Tovino who gave us the confidence to proceed with this particular subject. It is just that the character called Bineesh played by Tovino happens to be a smoker. The movie, however, discusses another important and funny subject.

Was it necessary that you turned a filmmaker just because your father named you Fellini?

My father named me after the Italian master Federico Fellini because he loved cinema. However, he never forced me to become a filmmaker just because I share my name with Fellini. I did my schooling in Saudi Arabia, and my father used to bring us the video cassettes of many world-class movies. Later, I too began to get interested in the movies. Though I did engineering, I was sure that cinema was my passion. After doing a course on filmmaking from the Asian Film Academy in Delhi, I worked as an assistant of noted director Syamaprasad.

'Theevandi' introduces a lot of fresh faces including the director...

'Theevandi' is in fact the culmination of my hard work and patience of almost three years. Lots of people stood with me, supporting and encouraging me in many ways. Many of them are part of this movie as well. Cameraman Goutham Sankar and music composer Kailas Menon are debuting through 'Theevandi'. We are introducing Samyukta Menon as the female lead. 'Theevandi' is penned by Vini Viswalal who prepared the screenplay for movies like 'Second Show' and 'Koothara'.