Within hours of its release, the trailer of Malayalam director Aashiq Abu’s medical thriller, Virus, based on the Nipah virus attack in Kerala, is trending #1 on YouTube. The movie which is expected to hit the big screen on the June 7 has been in the news since its announcement and the first official trailer of this multi-starrer medical thriller was released on April 26.
The film features a stellar cast including Kunchacko Boban, Revathy, Rima Kallingal, Tovino Thomas, Parvathy, Asif Ali, Indrajith Sukumaran, Poornima Indrajith, Rahman, Soubin Shahir, Remya Nambeeshan and Sreenath Bhasi among others.
The background score of the trailer deserves special mention. It successfully builds up tension throughout the length of the trailer. The fear and fight for survival during the Nipah outbreak in Kerala’s Kozhikode is well-captured by the background score.
The characters remind us of some familiar faces and names seen and heard during the Nipah outbreak of May 2018. Actress Rima Kallingal in the trailer reminds us of the nurse, Lini, who lost her life while tending to virus-infected patients. Actress Revathi has an uncanny resemblance to Kerala health minister K.K. Shailaja who handled the medical nightmare effectively.
The trailer calls attention to the mixed human emotions of fear, helplessness, guilt and the fight for survival that the people of Kozhikode and the authorities experienced during the virus outbreak. There was guilt for not helping the needy but there also was the paranoia of a disease which had no known cure. The trailer holds our attention when a seemingly Nipah-affected Soubin Shahir is refused a ride by an auto driver. The intensity of the situation is heightened when the trailer shows masked human beings roaming around the streets and dead bodies being cremated without even taking consent from their relatives.
Virus is produced by Aashiq Abu and Rima Kallingal under OPM Productions. Screenplay for the film is written by Muhsin Parari, Sharfu and Suhas. Rajeev Ravi and Shyju Khalid handled the film's cinematography.
