Unni Mukundan's first Hindi is based on real events

His second innings appears to be with a bang. Filmmaker Sanjeev Sivan, who was on a sabbatical, is back to Mollywood, and this time his hands are full. The director, whose last outing was 'Aparichithan' in 2004, has four projects in the pipeline, the latest being a bilingual action thriller starring Unni Mukundan, to be taken simultaneously in Hindi and Malayalam. The movie will be the first Hindi film of Unni Mukundan.

"I have heard a lot about the struggles of a larger section of Malayalis who are settled in the Middle East. My movie, based on the travails of the immigrants settled abroad, is inspired from a real life incident," reveals Sanjeev.

The shooting of the movie will start by November end in Doha. Salim Kumar and Siddique are the other actors. Heroine will be a new face. Music of the film is to be handled by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio.

Sanjeev at present is immersed in giving final touches to his documentary, 'In Search of Their Son', based on the life of a couple who are fighting legal battle for surrogate parenting.

"Having read the story of the old couple who lost their son at a young age in a news paper, I tracked down the parents, doctors and the lawyer and filmed their story." An interesting fact is that Sanjeev, who has completed the shoot of the documentary, is planning to make a feature film with the same theme. "I found enough scope in it to be turned into a feature film. While Salim Kumar and Seema Biswas will do the role of the parents, Unni Mukundan will enact the role of the deceased son," says Sanjeev. Script of the film is by T A Rasak. Shooting will begin by September 22.

Sanjeev also has two more films in his kitty, the first being an ambitious project '15 Hours' with Mammootty in the lead. "The movie is about an NRI who comes to Kerala to take a loan and gets upset on knowing that non-residents are not given loan here. Debutant C Kartik wrote the script," says Sanjeev. He also plans another movie with Dulquar Salman, which will begin next year.

Commenting on his long gap from films, Sanjeev, who just finished a short film on the security aspects at the London Olympics, says, "It was not a conscious decision. Post the filming of 'Actum Baby' a short film on Indo-Aryans, I got involved in making more documentaries for American Broadcast Corporation." Sanjeev, who has completed 34 short films, feels this is the right time for a re-entry.