Academy Award-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty recently announced his directorial debut Otta, a Malayalam film that will star Asif Ali, Sathyaraj, and Arjun Ashokan in lead roles. The life of social worker and author S Hariharan is the inspiration for this film, says Resul, and adds, “but this is not a biopic. It is inspired by true events that took place in his life.”

Resul says that he met Hariharan at a function, and after hearing the author’s life story, which was also captured in the book Runaway Children, Resul felt there was a film waiting to happen. He says, “Hariharan ran away from home at three different stages in his life. He is from an affluent family and I couldn’t see any plausible reason for him to have done that. When I prodded him to tell me more, he said he was looking for freedom. The longest he was away was when he came to Chennai. Here, he met an older guy named Raju, who treated Hariharan like a brother. They were supposed to start a business, but things changed when his parents found him and took him back home. Later, he finished his education and became a multimillionaire. Many years later, he came across children who had also run away from their homes and he began rescuing these kids. Till date, he has rescued nearly 27,000 children. My film is the story of this man.”

Resul was curious to know if Hariharan ever got in touch with Raju again. “He told me he hasn’t met him since. And that’s where I felt there was a story. My story follows the journey of a boy who finds this friend who changed his life. It is also about children who have troubled relationships with their parents. These parents are busy building a home, but are they creating an environment where the children want to return to one day? Many successful people feel lonely at some stage. So, this film will be a coming-of-age drama, where I show the different stages in the life of a boy who’s a loner. That is why I have titled it Otta (which means loner in Malayalam).”

AsifAli plays the role of Hari and Resul is introducing Jalaja’s daughter Devi as the female lead. Actresses Shobana, Rohini, and Divya Dutta are also part of the film. “Hari’s character is shown in a positive light, but then, there is his alter ego, a character with dark shades, and there is Raju’s character as well,” says Resul.

The sound designer-turned-director says he worked on the script during the pandemic. Kiran Prabhakar wrote the film along with him. “I’ve always felt the urge to write a film. I have worked with several top-notch directors and have a grip on filmmaking as a craft. I put aside two Hindi films and a British film to make this dream a reality,” says Resul.

The team will begin shooting on April 25 in Kochi, after which the film will be shot in Chennai, Mumbai and Dubai. “We plan to wrap up the film by the end of the year and plan to send it to festivals like Cannes as the story has an international sensibility,” informs Resul.