V.K. SANTOSH KUMAR
Actor Gibu George got only two weeks to prepare for the Singapore-made short film The Wheel, released on April 1.
It tells the story of a young man, Aadi, who struggles with loneliness after a break-up, and his search for meaning and connection in a society that has underlying racial tensions.
Gibu played Aadi after shedding 7kg in two weeks. “I had to go through a very strict diet and a structured workout regimen to get into the physical requirements of the character,” he said.
The Wheel, an English short film written and directed by Singapore-based Rajith Mohan, won several international awards.
In September, it was nominated for the Best International Film Drama and Best Actor categories at the Barcelona LH International Film Festival Awards, a prestigious congregation of indie filmmakers from around the world.
There were more than 1,500 submissions from various filmmakers. Out of which 200, including The Wheel, were screened in Barcelona during the festival.
Thirty films were nominated for various awards and The Wheel made it to the final five in both the Best International Film Drama and Best Actor categories, before Gibu won the best actor award.
The jury praised the film for its visual symbolism, and the actor for effectively capturing the complexities of the protagonist.
“It was a great honour to win the award, after all the effort I put in to portray a complicated character,” said Gibu, who hails from Thiruvalla in Kerala and moved to Singapore in 2008. “This recognition will motivate me to work even harder and perform better.”
Gibu, an IT engineer and senior project manager with a global technology and business solution provider, started his entertainment career as the host of Asianet TV show Singapore Choice.
He has since acted in four plays, nine short films and three feature films, including in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil. He has also done several commercials, including for StarHub and the Health Promotion Board.
V.K. Santosh Kumar
