A Socio Political ‘Sayahna Varthakal'

A former associate of director Vineeth Sreenivasan, Arun Chandu’s entry in cinema happened with Vineeth’s Thattathin Marayathu. Sayahna Varthakal, he says, is a media-related story and the title is actually a reference to the title of the media channel run by Dhyan Sreenivasan’s character. Gokul Suresh plays a government employee who crosses paths with Dhyan’s character.

Arun has conceived the story with Sachin R Chandran contributing as the screenwriter. The dialogues are jointly penned by the two. Arun describes his film as a sort of socio-political satire with sufficient thriller elements. “Though it’s not about journalism per se, it definitely plays a part in the narrative, given how it’s about a whistle-blower and the challenges he encounters when he decides to take on the system. Naturally, the role of TV channels and new media will be explored.”

The film’s core subject is related to the central government’s skill development scheme. Arun had to do a significant amount of homework before tackling this “picked from the headlines” story. “Our film will address the scams that we heard about in the news recently. The irony about the whole thing is that this scheme flourished mostly in Kerala though it was primarily aimed at unemployed youngsters in North India. We intend to create awareness about some of the unspoken issues the public aren’t in the know about,” says Arun, who comes from a media background.