IM Vijayan's movie 'Mmmmm' contends for Oscar

Come March 15 and 'Sound of Pain' can turn out to be a cause for deep pleasure and joy for the Indian film industry. 'Mmmmm (Sound of Pain)', the first movie made in Kurumba tribal language from down south, has found its place in the list of 366 movies eligible for this years' Oscar race. Academy of Motion Pictures and Science (Oscars) has just come out with the list. While the voting will begin on Friday, official nominations will be announced on March 15. Interestingly, the Vijeesh Mani directed movie is produced by the Hollywood director Sohan Roy, who is known for his Oscar selected Hollywood directorial venture 'Dam 999'.

Other Indian films which got through to the next level are The White Tiger (Priyanka Chopra), Soorarai Potru (Suriya), and Bombay Rose.

With IM Vijayan in the lead, the movie narrates the tale of a tribal person hailing from the Kurumba tribe, who adopted honey collection as the traditional way of earning a living. The story unfolds the difficulties the central character has to go through when environmental changes occur due to irresponsible human activities, leading to scarcity of honey. It also portrays his fight against the challenges and how he eventually adapts to the changing environmental conditions. "Mmmmm is a movie that also gives an in-depth insight into the climatic changes and environmental issues the world is going through," said Roy.

Grammy award-winning American musician Edon Molla and renowned Indian folk singer, Nanjamma has written lyrics and sung for the movie. Jubair Muhammad is the Music Director, Prakash Vadikkal has written the screenplay, National award winner B Lenin is the Film editor, R Mohan is the Cinematographer, the Background score is by Srikanth Deva, and the Movie project is being managed by known actor Viaan Mangalasherry.

Interestingly, earlier, Vijeesh Mani directed Namo, shot in the Sanskrit language, and Netaji (Irula) was selected for "Indian Panorama." IFFI Goa in the year 2019 and 2020, respectively. Vijeesh has received various acknowledgments like the Guinness record for the filming of Vishwaguru (Malayalam) for finishing the script in 51 hrs and releasing it in theatres. His movie Puzhayamma (Malayalam) was bestowed with Best Environmental Film 2018 at the Kerala State Film Critics Award. The movie also garnered its place in the Asia Book of Records for being entirely shot in a river.