Despite it being 2 years after Aaha’s shoot, I still bear the mark of pulling the rope: Nitin Thomas

Actor Nitin Thomas has been in the Malayalam film industry for the past 12 years, dabbling between online promotions, attending auditions and acting. His latest role in Indrajith Sukumaran’s Aaha, which had him essaying Pakkan Biju as part of the original Aaha tug-of-war team, is among the most pivotal role he has played so far.

Talking to OTTplay about working in the film, directed by Bibin Paul Samuel, Nitin says, “I share screen space most with Indraettan and Manojettan. Despite most of the cast being relative newcomers, they were extremely supportive and were one among us. They used to share their experiences and made sure we were all comfortable. It was a good vibe on the sets, especially when Manojettan was around.”

Most of the cast also trained in the sport of vadamvali together. “We had a rented a house in a village called Thidanad where the entire cast apart from Indrajith and Amith (Chakalakkal) had stayed to train. We used to have warm-up sessions in the morning and then Roy Neeloor, who was part of the Aaha Neeloor team, and Arun Bheeshmam from Bheeshma Boys would train us,” says Nitin, who was also part of Little Master and the Tamil movie Nishabdam.

The training was intense and furthermore most of the cast, who played the members of the original team, also had outdoor shoots. “We shot the elder portions of our characters first and the younger sequences that included hunting the boar later. It’s been two years since the shoot got over , but I still have a mark on my back from pulling the rope. It’s a tough sport and all of us including Indraettan have taken a lot of effort to play the roles,” says the actor, who has attended more than 100 auditions in Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kerala.

Nitin will next be seen in Dulquer Salmaan’s Salute and Jameelante Poovankozhi, which has him in a “small but pivotal role”, he says.

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