Anarkali Marikar plays an alien in Arun Chandu’s Gaganachari

From the setting of an old family-run bakery business in small-town Ranni, director Arun Chandu shifts to a sci-fi comedy set in the 2050s for his next film,

Gaganachari

. The film has Anarkali Marikar in the main role as an

alien

, who is here to study human culture.

Speaking about the film, which is a “novel subject for Malayalam cinema”, Arun, who has co-written the film with Siva Sai, tells us, “Gaganachari is Sanskrit for celestial being. It is taken in mockumentary style, where a hidden team follows a group of people. In this movie, an alien arrives in the future at an apartment block where a couple of Malayalis live and learns about what their lifestyle is like. It was definitely a film that was created keeping in mind what we could pull off with pandemic restrictions in place; so like a sitcom, most of it is shot indoors.”

The film has Gokul Suresh, and Aju Varghese and Ganesh Kumar, who featured in Arun’s previous Saajan Bakery Since 1962, playing the Malayalis under observation. “Gokul and I are friends, but also as an actor I have felt that he is an unexplored talent. It is very comfortable to work with him,” says Arun, who had Gokul in his Sayanna Varthakal, which is scheduled for Onam 2021 release.

The director says that when Anarkali came for the script discussion “she drove up in a sort of dirt bike”. “Her attitude and image was ideally suited to the role, and she too, was open to trying something experimental,” says Arun.

The Gaganachari shoot - most of it done in Ernakulam with some bits outside the State - is almost over, and the last schedule is set to be completed after the Assembly elections.
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