Official Thread ★☆ KOODE ☆ PrithviRaj - Nazriya - Parvathy - Anjali Menon ☆ ★ Successful 50 DaYs ★ SuperHiT !!!

Anjali Menon added 2 new photos — with Sudharshan Narayanan and 8 others.
2 hrs ·
Our very first post about Koode was for a Casting Call for a younger version of Prithviraj Sukumaran. We had a crazy number of entries and yet it proved to be difficult, so our energetic AD team went combing through the schools & workshops in Kerala, metro cities & even abroad. Finally one day, one of them spotted a boy quickly boarding a school bus, not even interested to attend the auditions at his school. They followed him and brought him out of the bus and got him to pose for a few pictures that finally landed in front of me. He made it to the short list (which was quite long!)

My first comment was - “he looks very shy” yet pictures can be deceptive so we called him in. At that audition one thing was clear - this guy had promise. So he made it to the shorter list (which was super short!)

While he trained with us at the rehearsal camp and through the shoot of the film - he surprised us and how.

Ladies & gentlemen, happy to present Zubin as our Joshua (Jr.), so to answer your first question Prithvi - yes I know a boy who is a lot like you!

 

Prithviraj and Anjali Menon in Sharjah to film ‘Koode’
The Malayalam superstar was in the UAE this week to film crucial scenes of their much-anticipated film

South Indian superstar Prithviraj and director Anjali Menon of Banglore Days fame were in Sharjah for the last two days filming crucial scenes for their upcoming Malayalam film Koode, Gulf News tabloid! can reveal.

It’s Prithviraj’s 100th film, but the 35-year-old actor tells us that he hasn’t been keeping track of the staggering statistic. He was busy doing challenging films.


“But I have no reason to complain because I started acting at a very young age. I was one of the fortunate few who started doing weighty roles right from the beginning. I remember playing the sub-inspector of police when I was 20 and a I remember playing a 54-year-old Anglo Indian writer when I was 19. So I was pushed into the deep end right from the start of my career… All my learning has been done on the job,” said Prithviraj in an interview over the phone before his return from the UAE.

His 100th film Koode is one of the most anticipated films of Malayalam films this year. While Prithivraj wasn’t keen to dwell on the details of the Sharjah shoot, he said that the Middle East plays a pivotal role in the film. But he was more than happy to talk up Menon, a director who he claims is splendid at her job. Need further proof? Watch Manjaadikuru and Banglore Days, two superlative films in Malayalam.

“When Anjali called me to be a part of her first film Manjaadikuru, I found it very interesting and refreshing… From then on, I have held Anjali in very high regard and it’s not just me, but the entire industry,” said Prithviraj.

He plays Joshua, a disgruntled young man in this coming-of-age story Koode.

Local line producer Mini Sarma of Seven Media, who facilitated the shoot for Koode in Sharjah at an oil refinery, also speaks highly of the Koode team.

“It is incredible that my first job as a line producer was for Raju’s [Prithviraj] film Thanthonni and now I am working on his 100th film as a line producer… Both Anjali and him are very good at their jobs and swiftly wrapped up their shooting schedule in Sharjah within the allocated time. They both have production backgrounds and therefore are very efficient,” said Sarma.

Sarma has also worked on films such as Salman Khan’s Race 3 and Saaho along with media company TwoFour54.

“They were here in Sharjah just for two days. Apart from the heat, everything went smoothly,” said Sarma.

Read the full interview with Prithviraj in Gulf News tabloid! soon.

 

Prithviraj on 'baby sister' Nazriya and that van in Koode


Prithviraj has made an impact in every character he has played, right from his debut movie Nandanam to the recent Vimaanam. His baritone set the tone for Anjali Menon's first feature film, Manjadikuru. And now, fans are all excited to welcome him in Menon’s third feature film as a director, Koode. In an exclusive interview with Sify.com, Prithivraj talks about a unique experiment during the Koode shoot, his love for Nazriya and his hopes to see more women working in cinema.

How different was your creative process in Koode? We hear you worked with an English script... and that you improvised on the dialogues as you went along.

That is right. That is probably what was the most different in terms of creative process in Koode. Anjali refused to give me the Malayalam script.Why it was different for me was that every other actor had a Malayalam script. So I was left in a spot where not only did I have to make my lines on the spot, but also, I did not know what the other actors were going to say. So that was different. That was refreshing. I think it led to a lot of organically evolved moments in the film. It is not a process that every filmmaker can take on, Anjali did it successfully. It’s is not something that I would recommend to other filmmakers. All credit to Anjali for pulling it off!

Koode is said to be about relationships. How did your work in the film impact you as a person?

I knew Parvathy before, I knew Ranjith before, I knew Anjali before – So I think the discovery that I made during the film was Nazriya. In fact, strange as it might sound, I hadn’t even met Nazriya before the shooting. I am somebody who does not make friends very easily. I don’t know what it is about Nazriya. With her it took, I think, two minutes. And we really did develop a deep bond amongst us. She is like my baby sister now. So more than anything, if there is a takeaway from this movie as a person, I think it is my relationship with Nazriya.

How was it acting with Nazriya? Do you wish you had a sister in real life?

See, that is an exercise as an actor. I have done that before, I can do that again. But to be able to strike a chord with an actor off screen like I have been able to with Nazriya, that does not happen very often.

From Manjadikuru to Koode: What are the differences you see in Anjali's work style? As a soon-to-be director yourself, what are the qualities you would want to imbibe from her?

The biggest compliment that I can give is that I see absolutely no change in Anjali from Manjadikuru to Koode. Why I mean that as a compliment is, she approaches each one of her films with so much conviction, and I don’t think I have met any other filmmaker who is so personally involved with the characters she has created. I know that she cries with Joshua, that she laughs with Jenny, I know she feels with Sophie. I know that most filmmakers do this, but Anjali does it at a level that is quite proprietary. If there is one quality that I need to imbibe from Anjali that I do not have, I think it is patience.

Congratulations on completing 100 movies at a very young age. What would you rate as your best movies?

I really can’t pick one and if I go ahead and name a few, I am sure a few others who have written wonderful characters will be disappointed. So I’d rather not pick and name a few, but I have been lucky enough to have given my face and body to some outstanding characters over the years in Malayalam cinema. I hope I am able to keep doing it.

If you could remake one of your father's movies, which one would it be?

There is more than one, but if I HAD to pick one, may be Bandhanam.

You recently announced that you will not be part of a movie that might offend women. Have you had to turn down offers, has it been hard to find a script post that?

Frankly, I have not heard a script that doesn’t fit that definition. Maybe, they just don’t come to me.

Why do you think we have only a few women directors in Malayalam?

Good question, I would go further and ask, why do we have so few women technicians in India? I know you can off the hook name a Zoya Akhtar, an Anjali Menon - but let us face it - the ratio is not very encouraging, is it? I am surprised actually. In most cases, when I have had a chance to work with a woman director, it really has been an enriching experience. The perspective that women bring into relationships on-screen is really refreshing. I hope women, girls start seeing cinema as a career option. It really is an exciting career and it is a wonderful place to work in. I know the world of cinema has a lot of perceptions attached to it. But trust me, if you are in the right kind of cinema and if you are in the right kind of world within cinema it is a wonderful place to work in. I am not saying it is easy, it is a lot of hard work, it is a lot of commitment but I really am looking to working with more women directors and technicians for that matter.

We all know you’re a motor enthusiast. In many of the stills and posters from Koode, you share space with a van... What’s with that?

Well, I really can’t be telling you why the van is an important character in the film. But like Anjali has mentioned before, part of the film has the characteristics of a road movie, and it is about a journey as much as anything else. The journey is obviously in this van, and the van has a story. Why the van is an important character in Joshua and Jenny’s life, and other little snippets about the movie, I’d much rather the viewers discover it when they see the film.

 

July 14 release