I call it version 1 because the video has taken a significantly different form by now. But this story is still worth mentioning .
The music video for Kunnimanikal tells the story of a man in USA called Kamal (just for name sake). The video will pretty much feature Big Kamal in USA and Little Kamal in Kerala. I initially included a female character also but that did not work well in the video.
My friend Balagopal Ambalakatt has passion for visual media. He was my cinematographer.
Big Kamal
I started my search for an actor 2 months before my India Trip. I put ads online, Sunnyvale temple and some grocery stores. Not much luck. One day I took the camera to the office just to shoot some cubicle test scenes. It was late.. at about 9pm. In the next isle was Uddhav, my colleague, working late. Uddhav had started with the company for about 2 or 3 months. We had already been friends.
The thing was.. he looked good in the video. He had good expressions. Only thing was.. he said he had acted in a play only once. He was a tree and his friend was a dog. Any case.. Uddhav was in. Balu, Uddhav and I had a great time shooting the video.
Little Kamal
Kunnimanikal is the only song that really demanded a location in Kerala. This meant that I MUST finish this part before I finish my vacation. So here I am 3 days away from the return trip to US and I don't have a child actor that will represent Uddhav in his childhood. I am lying down in bed with my brother snoozing next to me. I said: "Roopa where am I going to find my Kunnimanikal boy?" he thought for some time and then said "Hold on. Let me check".
He called one of his customers that he knew from office. He said: I know this person. His son acted in little plays and stuff. He is good looking too. I talked to them and his father said he'll be at my house with the kid soon.
Sure enough they came to our house. I took a look at this kid and I could not stop laughing. It was miracle. Akshay (that was his name) looked just like Uddhav. I am not talking about a remote resemblance. Feature to feature. I told Uddhav later that Akshay resembled him more than how much real young Uddhav resembled the current one..
Check them out here:
We finished the whole shoot in the next two days. Had a great time. Akshay was a great team player. His dad joined us one day and he was more enthusiastic than the rest of us.
Uddhav is from Pune and Akshay from Thalasserry. I cant explain it. The thing is, now, Uddhav is not in that video anymore. But Akshay still is. I'm toying with another idea which I hope will make a better impact.
