10 days after the release of Bethlehem Kudumba Unit (BKU) for Onam, the makers released Soulmates: Oru Sathukudi Pranayam, the short film that was being made by Sangeeth Prathap’s character in the film.
The release of the 15-minute short film and the widespread acclaim it has been receiving since, has brought rise to one of the most innovate movie marketing ideas in recent promotions. The short has amassed over five million views rapidly.
For those who have not yet seen BKU, the lead character is that of Justin Davis, played by Nivin Pauly. The first hour of the film shows several sequences in which Justin tries to help out his younger brother Joel Davis make a short film titled Soulmates. Justin is also the film’s producer and we see him trying to act as a waiter in the short film too.
The short, that was released 10 days into the film’s blockbuster theatrical run, ends by adding that BKU will now feature a behind-the-scenes making video for the short, adding to the hype and discussion around the film.
Soulmates itself is a self-aware parody of the kind of short films that have been going viral in the Malayalam YouTube space. Beginning right outside a restaurant, we see our hero waiting to grab an order as he works as a delivery gig worker. His name is Nandan Venkitangu and we see him rushing to a film producer’s office with a fully-bound script. Disappointment follows when his dream project to become a director is stalled. But when he delivers the package to its rightful owner, he walks right into the house of his ex-lover Sayoojya. What happens after their second meeting, and the toxic relationship Sayoojya is stuck in, forms a major part of the plot.
What makes this audacious attempt at making a new kind of meta cinema work, is how it calls attention to all the cringe elements that made the short film wave in Kerala a talking point. In one scene, as we see both the film’s hero and heroine romancing on the beach, a stranger walks right into the frame. Without the budget or the man power to manage crowds, we see the camera team zooming vigorously into the couple as a ploy to avoid the man in the backdrop.
The dialogues too benefit due to its silliness. In one of the film’s highlight scenes, we see Sayoojya, in a fit of rage, telling her toxic boyfriend that she’s been prescribed homeopathy medicines for depression for months, as a result of all the toxicity. The cameos up the rest; we see Meenakshi Ravindranath (Joel’s cousin in BKU) playing an amalgam of all the characters she’s been known for playing in films so much. Roshan Shana (or Glikson in BKU) plays the role of the cliched well-meaning Muslim bestie who just wants to see his friend succeed, before he makes his way back to “Persia”.
The king of all cameos is that of Nivin Pauly himself, as Justin Davis, the film’s producer. He plays a waiter and the funniest scene in the film is when we see Nivin struggling to deliver a dialogue with just a list of items on the menu. The harp-like background score during his entry, by composer Albin Angamaly, also appears to be a forced addition, as though it was added in the last minute to please the film’s producer.
All of this comes together hilariously in a marketing gimmick that truly grows out its purpose to become unironically funny. With thousands of comments by viewers breaking the fourth wall to add to the madness of this exercise, we’re seeing one more idea from Girish AD's team that proves just how much fun is it remain in the world of his stories and characters that make everyday silliness feel extraordinary.