Film director-editor Mahesh Narayanan’s Ariyippu, titled ‘Declaration’ in English, which was premiered in the competition section at the 75th edition of the Locarno Film Festival, will have an OTT premiere on Netflix, said the director.
This was the first time that Mahesh was sending a film of his for an international film festival. Starring Kunchacko Boban and Divya Prabha-starrer in the lead, the film is about a couple from Kerala who go to Delhi to work in a glove manufacturing factory in Noida while they wait for their papers to migrate abroad. However their plans and their lives hit a bump on account of a manipulated video clip.
Ariyippu was screened at British Film Institure’s London Film Festival. The director is now in Busan for the screening of the film at the Busan International Film Festival. Speaking from Busan, Mahesh says although he missed the first screening of the film in Busan, he hopes to watch the next one scheduled on October 13.
Speaking of his film being grabbed by Netflix he says: “Happy. What more can I say? Ariyippu was planned as an an OTT release after a festival run. It was made like that.”
His C U Soon was also premiered on an OTT platform, on Amazon Prime. In addition to editing, writing and direction, he also worked as cinematographer in the Fahadh Faasil-starrer Malayankunju.