Two award winners clash this weekend

National award winning director T V Chandran's Sankaranum Mohananum is being described as his "first brush with commercial cinema." It vies with director Alberrt Antoni's Vaadamalli, a suspense thriller, for release in theatres tomorrow, June 10.

Sankaranum Mohananum has Jayasurya, Meera Nandan and Rima Kallingal in the lead. "The film is based on the mindscape of Mohanakrishnan (Jayasurya), a fashion photographer by profession, who lives in Kochi and is in a tumultuous marriage with model Jyotsna Mathew (Rima Kallingal)," says Chandran, who has directed films like Alicente Anweshanam,  Ponthanmada, Ormakal Undaayirikkanam, Mankamma, Susanna, Danny and Padam Onnu: Oru Vilaapam.

It is Mohanakrishnan's interactions with his older brother Sankaran (Jayasurya again, in a double role) that takes the story forward. The interesting thing here is that Sankaran is dead!

A school teacher by profession, Sankaran marries when in his forties to a girl in her twenties named Rajalakshmi (Meera Nandan). The day after the wedding, he dies of a snake bite. His romance remains unfulfilled and he starts visiting his younger brother from the other side of the grave as it were.

Alberrt Antoni's award-winning first film Kanne Madanguka was the poignant tale of how society ruthlessly exploits a young girl who is trying to take care of her family after her father gets disabled in an accident.

The film was selected for the Indian Panorama in 2005 and Navya Nair won the Kerala state award for the best actress for her performance. Alberrt also won the Aravindan Puraskaram for his debut film.

His second venture, Vaadamalli, is set in Beethoven Music College where Vasu Damodar (Rahul Madhav) studies. "Vasu Damodar hails from a poor background and has links with some criminal gangs. Vrinda Nambiar (Richa Panai) comes from a rich family and she is in love with Rahul. Renu (Niji Mary) is another student there and Sandesh (Ramesh) is her friend. The story takes an exciting turn when a girl goes missing from the hostel. Mysteries related to the murder are unveiled through the different versions narrated by the characters," says Alberrt.

The cast includes several youngsters including Rahul Madhav, Richa Panai, Ramesh and Niji Mary.

Rahul Madhav has acted in a few Tamil movies earlier and Richa became popular in Kerala after appearing in a jewellery advertisement.

Vaadamalli is produced by Sunil Chandrika Nair under the banner of Zoe Estebe Moveiz Pvt Ltd. The cinematographer is Vaidy S Pillai. The music director is Shyam.

Alberrt had announced another ambitious project titled Nairsan, some time back, with Mohanlal and Jackie Chan in the lead. "It is going to be a big venture and we are still working on it," he says.