Exclusive! Mathew Thomas, Basil Joseph’s sports drama Kapp centres on a shuttler aiming to be district champ

The movie, scripted and directed by Sanju V Samuel, also has Namitha Pramod and Guru Somasundaram as part of the cast

Mathew Thomas, Guru Somasundaram, Namitha Pramod and Basil Joseph

Debutant Sanju V Samuel seems to have pulled a casting coup of sorts for his first movie Kapp, which revolves around badminton. The movie, which went on floors on Wednesday in Kochi, has Mathew Thomas, Basil Joseph, Guru Somasundaram, Namitha Pramod, Anand Roshan and Riya Shibu as part of the cast.

Talking to OTTplay about the sports drama, the filmmaker, who had earlier worked as an assistant director in films such as Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, Amar Akbar Antony and Oru Second Class Yatra, says, “It’s about a 17-year-old boy named Kannan, based in Vellathooval in Idukki, who wants to play badminton. How those around him help him achieve his goal of becoming the district winner forms the rest of the plot.”

While Mathew plays the central character Kannan, Minnal Murali duo of director Basil Joseph and Guru Somasundaram will also be seen in pivotal roles. “Guru will be essaying the role of his dad and Basil will be seen as the elder brother of Kannan’s friend who supports him in his sporting journey,” says Sanju.

On picking a sports drama for his debut film, Sanju says, “I play badminton and love the sport as much as I love cricket. Also, in Malayalam cinema, there haven't been too many movies on badminton and so, I wanted to utilise that space. There isn’t a scope for an all-out sports film in Malayalam and hence we have added elements of drama for it to be palatable to the audience.”

The team shot a few scenes in Kochi on Wednesday and is set to begin shooting extensively in Adimali from February 7. While the film is based on Sanju’s story idea, the movie is scripted by Akhilesh Latharaj and Denson Durom.

With a sports film requiring large crowds, how has the team planned to shoot these portions amid the pandemic? “The movie talks about his journey of playing the sport from his school days. For that, we need school children. We are yet to plan how to shoot those scenes, but we have ground support at Vellathooval and are hoping people will come,” he says. “Also, for subsequent scenes too in the grounds, we need an audience. These sequences are planned in the latter phase of shooting, so by then we are hoping the pandemic situation will improve.”

Also read: Exclusive! Jeethu Joseph: Asif Ali will be playing a unique character in the thriller, Kooman

Share