Anoop Menon joins Maradu 357

The demolition of four water-front residential apartments in Maradu, Kochi, during the weekend caught everyone’s attention, and filmmaker Kannan Thamarakkulam was also among the thousands who had gathered in the area to catch a glimpse of the historic scenes. Kannan and his team were capturing the visuals for their movie titled Maradu 357, which revolves around the people who lived in the apartments.
The filmmaker had earlier told us that Dharmajan Bolgatty plays an important role in the film, and now the latest to join the cast is Anoop Menon, who plays the lead. The actor, who essays a character named Bharathan, tells us, “It’s a proper commercial film and the role that I have signed on to do is not something that I have attempted before.”
While Anoop reveals that he doesn’t play a resident of the apartments that were razed by a Supreme Court order citing coastal regulation zone violations, he says, “It’s a story that has to be told now. I can guarantee that the film will be very revealing in the sense that it will unveil a lot a of unknown facts.”
Further on the relevance of the film, Anoop says, “When the buildings were razed, so many hopes and dreams came crashing down. Also, there’s a big question that we must ask, ‘Whom do we trust?’ People have faith in governments and banks, trusting that dealings with these institutions are safe. For instance, when people take a loan, they trust the bank has already gone through all documentation and checked for any red flags. But what the Maradu demolition highlights is that you are never guaranteed peace of mind. If such transactions based on trust fail, how can society function?”
The actor is also critical of those who had gathered during the demolition and cheered for it. “I felt sad for the residents who had invested so much of their lives in those apartments, while thousands were applauding as the buildings came down,” he says.
The film, which also has Senthil Krishna as part of the cast, will go on floors in full swing by January 20.