Malayalam film Sunny will have only one actor on the screen. The film, which marks Jayasurya’s hundredth, will have only the actor on screen while other characters appear as voices on the phone or on a balcony that the camera does not show. In an interview with TNM, the film’s director Ranjith Sankar said that while the script has other characters, only Jayasurya will be properly seen on the screen. The film, which deals with the solitude of a failed musician going through a difficult time, was shot during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will release on Amazon Prime Video on September 23.
“It was not challenging to play the single actor on screen. That part was taken care of in the script,” Jayasurya tells TNM.
The film’s trailer was released on Monday at noon showing the character – a bearded man apparently confined to an apartment – going out of his mind. He calls his doctor and asks what happens if there is no hope in life. He is bored and going crazy, he says. He calls someone to "at least see another person's face". The man, going through some mental health issues, claims he hears voices. He cries, he drinks, he entraps an ant in a glass, apparently putting it in a position akin to his.
Watch: Trailer of Sunny
Ranjith Sankar has both scripted and directed the film. It is his eighth film with Jayasurya. It is always a unique subject that Ranjith comes up with, Jayasurya says. “Even though it is eight films, every time it’s an entirely different subject – be it the Punyalan series or the Pretham series (where I play a mentalist) or Njan Marykutty (which was most challenging, playing a trans woman),” the actor says.
Jayasurya and Ranjith have produced Sunny together under the banner Dreams N Beyond. Cinematography is by Madhu Neelakandan. Music is by Sankar Sharma.
Watch: TNM's interview with Ranjith and Jayasurya
VK Prakash’s horror thriller Praana, released in 2019, was a one-actor film with only Nithya Menen shown on the screen.