THAVANUR (KERALA), OCTOBER 11: The sandy banks of the serene river posed as a new action turf for IM Vijayan but the mercurial footballer faced no hiccups perfecting the first `take' of his maiden film, much to his own dismay.The `black pearl' of Indian football overcame some nervousness and did another kick-off this time in the tinsel world as the placid surroundings of the broad and meandering Bharathapuzha became the locale of the movie in which he was playing the hero.``I never thought it was going to be this easy,'' the lithe Malayali striker said after the performance in his debut shot of the movie Shantham (calm) being directed by the renowned J Jayaraj.For a change, he received no grinding instructions from the coach or vociferous cheers from packed stands, and the ebony-coloured hero of the movie obeyed `action' calls by the young film-maker. The team on the field had no Bhaichung Bhutia or Jo Paul, instead scores of technicians and some cine artistes amid hundreds of onlookers in this countryside of Malappuram district.Shantham is the second in Jayaraj's Navarasam series, which began with Karunam, the Golden Peacock award-winning film.The film portraits a naive youth who, in an accursed moment, commits a murder that burdens him with guilt and upsets relations with his mother and another woman who looked after him in his childhood.Seema Biswas of Bandit Queen fame plays the female lead role along with prolific Malayalam actress Lalitha, while Vijayan dons the attire of Velayudhan, the protagonist.It was the need for the hero to be dark-complexioned that prompted director Jayaraj to invite Vijayan to play the role. ``It (role) has nothing to do with his magic pair of legs,'' he said, but added that the expression on Vijayan's face while dribbling past the defenders or taking a kick did play a role while arriving at the choice.The uncanny scorer on the ground, who recently launched the IM Vijayan Foundation for encouraging talents, noted that he was ``Just doing what Jayaraj says and not acting.'' ``This selection has came as a shock of my life.''The script of the film is by Madampu Kunjukuttan who won the National Award for Karunam. The theme is based on a story by P Suresh Kumar. Ravi Varma is the cameraman.- UNITED NEWS OF INDIA
