Kozhikode: Actor Prithiraj says that he lost 31 kg body weight in five months for ‘Adu Jivetha’. In an interview given to a YouTube channel the other day, Prithviraj explained the shooting experiences of ‘Aadujeetha’, which could be a turning point in his acting career, and the challenges he had to face during the completion of the film. It was in 2008 that director Eblesi and Prithviraj decided to make Benjamin’s famous novel ‘Atu Jivetham’ into a movie. The shooting starts after ten years of taking the decision.
‘Eblesi and I officially decided to make Adu Jivethu in Abhrapali in 2008. Eblesi was one of the highest paid directors in Malayalam cinema at that time. The time when all the actors including Mammootty and Mohanlal wanted to act in Eblsi’s film. He could take pictures of anyone. That’s when we plan our sheep lives. However, it took ten years to start the film. The huge amount of money required for such a film then and Eblesi’s vision for the film was beyond what the producers could have imagined.
In 2018, the shooting of Adu Jivetham started. Just before taking the first shot on the first day of shooting, Eblesi approached me. He was crying for ten minutes after hugging me. What I realized then was that the man had been working on just one film for ten years. I was acting in other films. He devoted 10 years to this only while he was active in the cinema through my ways.
Then came the problems. Initially we thought we could bring goats from abroad and shoot a large part of them in Rajasthan. All plans were ready to buy 250 goats from Saudi Arabia and bring them to India by ship. However, at the last moment, the animal welfare department did not give permission for it. With that, the search for other places. We were thinking of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Oman and many other places in the world. Finally, in 2019, that search ended in Jordan. That’s how the shooting starts in Jordan.
He had to lose 30 kilos to play the role of Goat Life. When Eblesi asked how many days it would take, my answer was six months. However, the target was seen sooner than that. After four and five months, he lost 31 kg. He was so thin because he was starving. Eblis was very happy. Motivating myself and thinking that the film will be finished in 45 days schedule, I went ahead enthusiastically. After six days of shooting, Covid arrived, breaking all the calculations. The world is closed. The shooting was interrupted. Little did we know then that it would take at least a year and a half to resume shooting.
After a year and a half, I had to lose weight again to get a continuation of the role. I had some doubts about it, including whether the body would respond to the urges, but somehow I did it. In the end, everything came together beautifully. We resumed shooting in more colorful locations including Algeria. Finally our film was completed as a goal. After the last shot of Iklamas shot in Kerala, Eblsi came to me again. Hug me and cry a lot. A ‘circle’ between goal completions is thus completed. At the peak of his career, in the 15 years from 2008 to 2023, director Yeblesi made only one film. That is the life of a goat’ – said Prithviraj.
Aadujeevat is the story of the sufferings of Najeeb, a Malayali who goes to work in Arabia. The plot of the film revolves around Najeeb, a migrant worker, who takes a job looking after goats on a farm in a desolate area and the subsequent conflicts. Apart from Prithviraj, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Amala Paul, Rick Abi and many other stars are acting in the film. The movie will hit the screens on April 10, 2024.
