Basil Joseph on 'Maranamass' and Why It's a Comedy Tailor-Made For the 'Reels Era'

We're only at the start of April, but Basil Joseph, one of Malayalam cinema's newest stars, is getting ready for his third release of the year. His film Maranamass will open on April 10 as one of three Vishu releases (the other two being Alapuzha Gymkhana and Mammootty’s Bazooka), and he comes armed with the assurance that his latest will be a fun ride designed specially to attract children to the theatre during their summer holidays.

Helmed by his former assistant director Sivaprasad, the comedy is what Basil says was conceived for a generation that has grown up watching TikTok and Instagram Reels.

"It’s a quirky film and it exists in an exaggerated world. The characters, including mine, are distinct, with their own eccentricities. It’s a film in which a bus becomes a character while ghosts, Dracula and a serial killer fit into the narrative organically, even adding to the comedy."

Maranamass is written by Siju Sunny, who also forms a part of the cast. Basil, who plays a social media star, says the film is designed to play out like a series of Reels stitched together.

"It’s not written to suit the conventional script-writing or filmmaking process. It is closer in spirit to the ideas and making you see on Instagram. The scenes and the music also have a pattern in which there’s a tiny story with each passing minute. This could be a joke that arises by spoofing movies like Pulimurugan or Mersal. It could also be the scenes that are written around moments taken straight from pop culture; it’s tailor-made for community viewing."

This will be his first release since Ponman, the surprise super-hit that brought accolades for the performer in Basil. Maranamass is also a return to home for the actor-director, having created a fan base for his comic timing and his ability to mix that with stories that are both hard-hitting and socially committed.

A still from 'Maranamass'

"It’s important to find a balance between comedy and author-baked roles like the one I did in Ponman. As an actor, roles like Ponman are what you strive for. But it’s just as important to be able to break away from the roles people expect from you. Until I did films like Ponman, most directors were happy to say okay whenever I performed a scene for the first time. But after working on more complex films, they now feel like wanting to push me to do more. They’re not calling me to simply give them a predictable performance."

It’s for this reason that he signed on to do Pravikoodu Shaapu, the black comedy crime thriller which he calls decidedly experimental.

"It’s not a film that was in my comfort zone. One can call it a dark comedy, but it's unlike any film we have seen before. Even when I was performing for my role, its director Sreeraj (Sreenivasan) who would keep giving feedback and corrections until he got what he wanted. This is a quality you notice in directors who are trying to create something unusually new. They do not want what has already been done before."

Basil Joseph

This is why he understands why the film, which will release on SonyLIV this Friday, may not have been everyone’s cup of tea. "Pravinkoodu... was produced by Anwar Rasheed, one of the most successful people from our industry. How easy would it have been for him to get a very conventional film made? But he chooses to work on films like Pravinkoodu... because it challenges him too and takes him to a new space creatively."

"It’s only when you attempt such projects, that we end up with films boasting of a cult status. The fact that such experiments take place makes an industry healthier. If we only make safe films, we too will go down the path of making the template, franchise-based films that we’re witnessing in bigger industries. We wouldn’t want that," he concludes.