It’s almost too easy to say that director Mahesh Narayanan has been running on no sleep. His film Patriot is close to being released and he says he’s just landed in Kochi after a week at composer Sushin Shyam's studio in Goa.
But it’s just as easy to say that he’s equally happy to see how his magnum opus has shaped up. Between last-minute corrections and a steady stream of calls, he settles down to tell The Hollywood Reporter India just how the movie came together and the films that inspired this ambitious collaboration.
Edited excerpt from the conversation.
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER INDIA: The cast of Patriot is almost unprecedented. How did the script come to accommodate all of them?
MAHESH NARAYANAN: I never approach actors with just ideas. I always travel with fully written scripts, even if I’m working with friends. The idea of going to actors without a full script makes me feel insecure because I believe the idea or story is very different from the script and they operate at either ends of a spectrum. I don’t wait for the final draft with dialogues fixed, but I wait till I feel confident about it.
THR INDIA: Was the process any different with Patriot?
NARAYANAN: It was more or less the same. I waited until I’d finished before going to Mammukka (Mammootty). Fahadh (Faasil) had been telling me to narrate it to him, too. When I pitched it to Mammukka, he kept asking who would play the other characters. Based on a rough idea of how I wanted these characters to look, I said that Fahadh could be an option for one role and Kunchacko Boban for another. Naturally, he asked about his own role — and that’s how the ball started rolling for Patriot, with his ‘yes.’
THR INDIA: Were those casting choices fixed at that point?
NARAYANAN: They were not concrete. Anto Joseph (the film’s producer) and I happened to visit the Aashirwad office to meet [producer] Anthony Perumbavoor and Mohanlal sir was there as well. It was Lal sir who asked if I could narrate the script to him — and he said yes. They’d all been trying for long to bring Lal sir and Mammukka together, so you can imagine the feeling! I could make out from Anthony’s relieved expression that what was beginning to happen was indeed something special.
THR INDIA: Did the script have equal room for both stars at that stage?
NARAYANAN: I wouldn’t call it a Mammootty-Mohanlal film. It’s a Mammootty film with several other important characters. The thought that I was making a ‘Mammootty-Mohanlal’ movie happened much later. It was always script first.
THR INDIA: Was it a relief that it came together organically rather than by design?
NARAYANAN: Surely. This is not a script designed just for stars. Honestly speaking, I don’t even know how to play up scenes just for the gallery — and I’ve not done that before. But Patriot already did have certain sequences that could work for their respective fan bases, and they were happy with it, too.
THR INDIA: What were Mammootty and Mohanlal’s inputs on casting?
NARAYANAN: From day one, they were both clear about wanting me to stick to the draft. I haven’t deviated from the initial concept of the film. Both Fahadh and Kunchacko Boban were part of the film from the start. Fahadh knows the entire progression of this story and at one point, he was even open to producing the film himself. In fact, Lal sir and Nayanthara were the last ones to be signed on for Patriot.
THR INDIA: Any special preparations before shooting their combination scenes?
NARAYANAN: No special preparations were needed. Incidentally, I shot Mammukka’s first shot in the film with Lal sir. The shoot of the film, too, began with Lal sir. But ultimately, it’s only fair to call Mammukka the film’s protagonist.
THR INDIA: What was the mood on set when the two of them got together?
NARAYANAN: I wasn’t aware of it, but this is their 56th film together and that has its own charm. They have so much to discuss and talk about. Primarily, they’re both seasoned actors and they prefer to operate in that space. They were just chilling and having a good time on set. It was Kunchacko who spent time with them and listened to their stories.
THR INDIA: The shoot had logistical challenges and several breaks. How tough was that to manage?
NARAYANAN: Even during those issues, we continued working. Permissions for certain locations were hard to come by, so we waited until we got those. We had around 10 to 12 days of shoot every month and that’s how we completed it. It was also a shoot we all enjoyed because it wasn’t particularly hectic.
THR INDIA: Is this the toughest film you’ve made?
NARAYANAN: I cannot call any one film tougher than the last. All films are tough to make oftentimes; the challenges of a new film appear to be entirely new as well. The toughest part of this was getting all these people together; that difficulty is something we share with the production team. I remember the day my assistants showed me a workflow chart that read: ‘Mammootty, Mohanlal, Kunchacko Boban, Nayanthara, Fahadh Faasil’. It's not every day you have a list like that staring at you. At the moment, I’m just relieved that I was able to get close to the film I had first imagined.
What is your favourite Mammootty-Mohanlal film? “It has to be Vartha (1986). I’m a huge fan of T. Damodaran (the film’s writer) and his collaborations with director I.V. Sasi. My film Malik took inspiration from their film Ee Nadu (1982) and Patriot will have shades of Vartha. They could be different in terms of style, but their films always merged at an interesting point. Iniyenkilum (1983) is another film that I love.”