Four years since the release of the dark comedy Mukundan Unni Associates, its writer, director and editor returns with a film titled Mollywood Times. Starring Naslen, he insists that his new film is a lot more positive and a lot more cheerful than his first film, even though they’re both part of his “success trilogy”.
Two weeks before release, in the middle of one of his final post-production trips, Abhinav Sunder Nayak finds a break to talk about his second film and why it was obvious to him that Naslen would make it big. Excerpts from an interview:
It’s been four years since Mukundan Unni Associates. Was Mollywood Times the second film you always wanted to make?
Not really. During Mukundan Unni, I was thinking about making a female-oriented film as my second. I started working on an initial draft, and I was discussing it with Ramu [Ramu Sunil, writer of Mollywood Times], an old friend. But as we were writing this, a film with a very similar concept and plot was released then. So we had to drop it. After that, we were just discussing our respective journeys in the film industry; he’s been working in cinema for a long time, and so have I, but we kept meeting. During one of these chats, I told him about how I had wanted to make a trilogy about success. In this, I wanted the first to be about a cruel person winning, and that’s what I made with Mukundan Unni. I also had two more. One of them is Mollywood Times.
Had you thought about casting at that point?
We kept thinking about a story that would fit into the theme, but even at that point, we had this thought that we must cast Naslen. Premalu hadn’t released then, but I could clearly see his potential. I loved him in Jo And Jo (2022), and I immediately called up Vimal Gopalakrishnan, my co-writer in Mukundan Unni. I told him I was sure that he would become a star soon, and we both began to think of something for him. Even though that film didn’t work out, the idea of casting Naslen was stuck in my head.
I had the same obsession with Nivin Pauly when I saw him in Bangalore Days. I had even written Mukundan Unni with Nivin in mind, but I didn’t want to make the same mistake I made with that film. Instead of writing with Naslen in mind, I called up Naslen and said I wanted a film with him, and that I was only going to start writing if he said yes. He said yes, and that’s where it began.
Because you said the script began with you and Ramu talking about your respective journeys, is it fair to call parts of Mollywood Times biographical?
You can. It is a movie about a boy in school, right up until he is around 25. It is also about a boy who dreams of becoming a director; of course, some elements are biographical. But the story is entirely fictional. And honestly, I think it’s stupid to make a film about me… it’s just an ego trip if I do that. There are surely things I wanted to say about the movie industry, and I’ve tried to say that with this film.
When we spoke last, I remember you calling yourself a micro-manager. Has that changed with the second film?
Not really. I think it’s only become more severe. Even though Ramu is the writer, I have only used experiences from his life that I connect with. I wouldn’t take it as a credit, and I still struggle with delegation on sets. It’s something I have to work on. But because Ramu is one of the best people I’ve met, there is a sweetness in the film that can only be attributed to him. That was, anyway, going to reflect in his writing.
When we speak of making a film about the struggles of entering the movie business, is there scope for other professions in it that are not acting or directing?
I think it will stick as long as I can connect with it when I write. Since I’ve lived the life of a struggling director, I believe I can make this film with a lot of honesty. I hope that reflects in people’s reactions, too. Maybe if a sound designer wants to make such a film, then surely he or she will be able to make a movie about that with even more honesty. Just because it’s about sound design, I don’t think it's valid to say that the regular audiences will not get it. There’s always a way to make viewers understand, no matter how complex the subject. We were able to understand films like The Social Network and The Big Short, weren’t we?
Right from Udayananu Tharam (Mohanlal's 2005 film), Malayalam cinema has had its share of films that explored the struggles of the aspiring filmmaker. Was there ever a doubt in your mind when you began to explore this premise?
Yes, there have been many more, but my confidence in this film is about my perspective. As long as I haven’t told the story of a struggling filmmaker, there’s still a scope for it. If I wanted to make a romance, I wouldn’t have worried about writing a romance, now, would I? The only point at which I was worried was when Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Varshangkalku Sesham was released. That was also about an aspiring director, but then I realised how Vineethettan is a completely different kind of filmmaker, and his worldview is also the opposite of mine. I believed in my POV, and I was sure my film was very different.
A highlight of Mukundan Unni... was the way you added voiceovers and animated sequences into the film during the edit. It almost became like a signature of yours. Have you added such elements into this film?
Yes, it will have both animation and voiceovers. Voiceovers, for example, comes very naturally to me and it’s something I play with when I start editing a film. I feel it has only benefitted my films. This could also be because I’m an editor…I keep trying to make the film better with each new edit. I guess it’s because I discovered what kind of filmmaker I was during the last edit phase of Mukundan Unni. Once you understand that, you can lean in towards aspects that make a film uniquely yours.
Now that you’ve made two films and understood your style, do you notice any overlap between your films and the films of directors you admired?
I think there’s a big difference between the kind of films I’d dreamt of then. I feel I was too naive towards the world. My worldview wasn’t this cutthroat. I was very hopeful and I used also be into fantasy. Jurassic Park remains my ultimate movie even now but everything has changed [since]. It's my journey in cinema that has made me cynical. Cynical, might be the wrong word, but cinema is the reason I’ve become real. I don’t think anyone should romanticise the movies. There should only be realistic movies about the struggle of cinema.