Filmmaker, director, actor and producer Dileesh Pothan returns with his next on-screen role in Chevittorma, a Malayalam-language independent feature directed by Leo Thaddeus. Chevittorma, or The Soul Whisperer, starring Pothan and Pauly Valsan in the lead roles, is premiering at the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea this week.
Set in the hills of Kerala, this meditative drama explores death, memory, faith and redemption. Pauly Valsan plays Theresia, known for whispering prayers believed to ease the passing of the dying, who is summoned to the ancestral home of Varkichan (Dileesh Pothan), a powerful landlord on his deathbed. As his family gathers to await his passing, it doesn't come easily, and the prolonged vigil unearths old tensions and buried histories.
Chevittorma is premiering under the festival's 'A Window on Asian Cinema' section, a non-competitive programme which will showcase fresh and notable films by Asian filmmakers.
Discussing Chevittorma's Busan premiere, Pothan opens up about drawing on his own personal losses to bring Varkichan to life, and the mental preparation it took to play a character on the brink of death.
Looking back on his career in a chat with The Hollywood Reporter India, he reflects on how filmmaking has always been his true passion and goal, while acting, by contrast, first began as a means of income during a period of financial struggle and has now come to be something he truly enjoys.
How did you come on board Chevittorma?
Leo (Thaddeus) came to me with an idea and narrated the script. I felt it was a great idea, and I was excited by the way he conceived it. My character was also very exciting, although I was a bit worried about my age relative to the character's. I asked Leo whether he was confident about that, and he was, so I decided to give it a try.
Not only does the film deal with death and loss, but your character Varkichan, himself, is on his deathbed. Did embodying him require you to draw on any personal experiences with grief?
Yes, it did. I have lost a few people in my life. But I have seen loss first-hand only once — when I lost my grandfather. When he was on his deathbed, I was the only one with him in his final moments. Moments before his passing, he was trying to say something to me, but I didn't understand it too well then... I have experienced that moment in my life.
Otherwise too, I have seen people around me bedridden and plagued by illness. I definitely recalled those moments, and I tried to bring their mental state to this character.
There are some characters you play that you may be familiar with in your own life, or might have related to at some point. We may have only read about characters like this, or heard about them. There's ultimately no personal experience that can fully help you embody someone in that state. That's when it becomes about how close you can get to the character's mental state.
Most of my other roles I was able to relate to in some capacity, but this character in Chevittorma was not like that. The first few days were tough — I had to prepare to reach that state of mind. But once I got into it, the problem was that I didn't know if my portrayal was right or wrong. Leo told me it was working, so I took that as confidence. Once I fell into the character, I was very careful to do it the same way again.
I had a lot of support too — when I shared the screen with Pauly chechi, I was very interested in her performance. She helped me a lot in those scenes. I also have to credit the makeup for this character — Ronex Xavier (Chevittorma's makeup artist) set me up as someone almost double my age, and that really helped me get hold of the character.
You played another bedridden character earlier this year in Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil. Was this role more demanding or challenging?
In Oru Durooha Saahacharyathil, I played a character who is stuck in bed, but this was a different challenge entirely. I have worked on many films in recent years, but none needed this level of preparation.
The main thing was the age. But additionally, this character's mental state goes through a huge arc — his perspective on forgiveness, how he sees the deeds he has done in his life, what memories haunt him.
Honestly, when lying in the bed as Varkichan, I could see his entire life flash before my eyes. Being in his mental state meant processing everything from his childhood to the moment he is lying on that bed. There is a whole layer of his personal life in it. The process certainly took a lot of work.
You are at the Busan International Film Festival for the film's premiere. Are you a cinephile, and what are you looking forward to watching at BIFF?
Currently I don't have many plans, since I'll only be at the festival for about three days. I'm in the middle of a shoot here, so when the dates came, my schedule got interrupted. I'll be taking a break from the shoot for five days, and two of those three days at the festival will be dedicated to Chevittorma alone.
I was really hoping to go to Busan sometime just to attend and experience the festival, not only necessarily as part of a film selected to screen there. And then I got an opportunity like this!
I love the mood of a film festival; the idea of these many days just dedicated to watching films really excites me. Even personally, I'm not a person who rushes to a theatre on the opening day to watch a new film.
But once I start, I watch many films in a day, almost like I'm at a festival, and that continues for a week! Then maybe I won't get to watch anything for a month. That's my process.
The name Dileesh Pothan brings to mind numerous identities —filmmaker, director, producer, actor. What do you primarily identify yourself as today?
I identify as a filmmaker. I always wanted to be a filmmaker, and that was what I strived for throughout. Everything else I have gotten to do came along as part of the journey as opportunities I welcomed.
Even today, during our shoot, someone approached me and complimented me on directing Maheshinte Prathikaaram. Yes, sometimes people might recognise me for an acting role that stood out. But my personal opinion is that the only field where I've been able to make a mark is in direction. All my acting roles feel like attempts at acting, to me.
You always wanted to be a director; so how did acting become part of the journey?
Honestly, I didn't have any particular interest in acting, neither did I ever think I had the talent for it. I was always sure of wanting to become a director.
My journey in acting started when a script written by Syam Pushkaran needed someone with my physical features, and my look matched the character. That was a small role in Salt N' Pepper, where I had only around three to four scenes. After I played that role, both the film and my character caught some attention, and slowly I started getting called for more acting roles.
At that point, I was still on my journey of becoming a filmmaker and pursuing assistant director positions. That was a time of financial struggle for me too — my earnings were not too high while trying for assistant director roles. So when I would be called for acting roles that would only require me to be on set for even two to three days, I would readily accept them because they were a means of income at the time. So truthfully, acting for me began as a means of earning solely. That is the reality.
Gradually though, it became something I came to enjoy. That was when I became more serious about it, became selective with the roles I took on, and started putting in more effort to embody the characters I would have to play. I still relish directing more, but acting means a lot to me now too — it gives me more opportunities to stay connected to the industry and a platform to continue learning and experiencing things as a filmmaker.
How do you approach scripts differently as an actor versus as a director?
Those are quite different processes for me.
As a director, I listen to story ideas and look into how I can visualise it coming together as a film. It has to be a story I really want to see come alive. When I'm looking for a project to head, I choose stories that have something that excites me.
As an actor, I work as a tool to help another filmmaker's vision. Sometimes we may have our doubts as actors, but I look at my acting roles as attempts to watch and learn, stick around for the process and see how it works out. Acting also gives me the chance to work on different characters, and I'm always happy to take on a character that stands out to me. I don't even look at my performance on the monitor on set because I can't watch myself act.
It's always the curiosity for cinema that makes me excited to work on both.
As you head into your fourth directorial, Nedumkandam Miracle, with over 40 acting roles behind you, do you miss directing while on set in an acting capacity?
Sometimes when I am acting on a project, I do honestly miss directing. Even on a recent shoot, while rewatching a shot alongside the director and just watching him work, I could feel the temptation to become the director on a project again.
But the reason I take time between directorials is because I'm always waiting for the right project. I regularly take on acting roles to keep myself updated in the meanwhile!