Trivandrum youngsters, who impressed Suriya with Ayan dance, debut as actors

Using just a mobile phone, a handful of young boys from Thiruvananthapuram’s Chenkalchoola aka Rajaji Nagar Colony had shot an electrifying dance video on their roads and roofs, and impressed the whole

State

, a few days ago.

Many, including Shashi Tharoor MP and Tamil actor Suriya, whose song Pala Palakur from Ayan they danced to, were quick to applaud their brilliant effort and now, the tinsel town has also recognised their talent. Eleven boys from the lot have been roped in to play key roles in the upcoming film Virunnu, directed by Kannan Thamarakkulam, featuring Arjun Sarja and Nikki Galrani in key roles.

Director Kannan says that boys will be appearing in important junctures in the story, including the climax. He explains, “In the film, they are part of a group that is intensely political in nature, and their characters are such that they can get registered in viewers’ minds in detail. In the film that features various kinds of frictions between the characters of Arjun Sarja,

Nikki

Galrani and Baiju Santhosh, this group saves and supports Nikki and they appear in the climax too.” The director says the boys have around 12 days of shoot and even quips, “I’m glad I spotted this group, without whom the story’s presentation would have lost its zest.”

Alongside the dance video, the team had even recreated a fight sequence from Ayan. Even professionals were quick to applaud the amazing production quality of the youngsters’ video, though it was shot just with phones, in their humble locality. Interestingly, the director who contacted them after watching these videos, asked whether they could perform a scene for him. “We gave them an action-oriented scene. However, they performed like it was a cakewalk for them! So, we didn’t have to give them special training to execute their parts for the film,” Kannan says.

One of the boys, Abhi M, who had shot and edited the dance video, says the group didn’t believe it when they received the call to rope them into the movie. “Regardless, we are happy about getting such a good part in a film. Initially, we were a bit scared,” admits Abhi. “But, the team, including Kannan sir spoke to us a lot, which we never thought anyone would do, and ensured that we are at ease. Gradually, things fell into place,” says the Class 12 student.