'The Only Film I Regret Making Is…': Gautham Vasudev Menon Before The Release Of 'Dominic And The Ladies’ Purse'
What unites Kamal Haasan, STR and Mammootty? Where does GVM rank 'Dominic And The Ladies’ Purse' in his filmography? How does he react to the resurgence of 'Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein'? All this and more, as the filmmaker talks to us
A day before the release of his first Malayalam film Dominic And The Ladies’ Purse, director Gautham Vasudev Menon chats briefly about his summers spent in Kerala watching Malayalam cinema, the influence it has had on his films, and the original script he narrated to Mammootty, way back in 2005.
Edited excerpts from a conversation:
You’ve often spoken fondly of the summer vacations you spent at your hometown of Ottapalam in Kerala; do you recall being introduced to Malayalam movies then?
I think I was the one among my cousins who was most keen on watching and talking about movies. But there was always a lot of old Malayalam music that kept playing at home, because both my grandmother and my aunts kept listening to them. Just like my knowledge of old Tamil songs from the '60s and '70s, I have a working knowledge of Malayalam songs because of them.
There was a Lakshmi Theatre just down the road in Ottapalam screening these movies that were released there, two or three weeks after it was out in the big cities. If I was visiting, we’d all be taken for them. I clearly remember watching Mohanlal’s Chitram(1988) and Unnikale Oru Kadha Parayam (1987).
Do you remember any favourite Malayalam songs from that time?
Of course! (Singing) Nee madhupagaru malar choriyu… I can sing the whole song. Even ‘Kaneer Poovinte’ from Kireedam is a favourite.
Looking back, do you think those Malayalam movies subconsciously influenced your own filmmaking style?
In a way, yes, because I’ve seen a lot of these films. At home in Madras too, these movies would be rented on VHS, and it was a weekend family routine. I'd go to the theatres for Tamil films, but Malayalam and other language films were mostly watched at home.
I also watched the Doordarshan Retrospectives of filmmakers like Guru Dutt and Raj Kapoor. My mom would keep talking about Shantaram’s Do Aankhen Barah Haath (1957). Meanwhile, Nayakan (1987) too happened later. So, the influences were varied. But the Malayalam movies I grew up watching were that of Malayalam directors like Sibi Malayil, Priyadarshan, Kamal, Fazil… I’d watch them if at all they released in Madras’ Safire, Padmam or Sangam Theatres.
I was speaking with Vishnu, your cinematographer, who has also worked with you in Dhruva Natchathiram. About Dominic…, he said that you wanted to find the film’s voice as you shot it.
Absolutely. There was a conscious effort to do that plus try something different in the making. We did a lot of work in the shot division to figure the film’s visual imagery. Because this was not a story I had written, I enjoyed the process of discovering how the film needs to be put out. I needed to also be on my toes because Mammootty sir was onboard.
Could you give us an example of a certain scene?
See, even though we had a climax written, I wanted to wait till the end to shoot it and give myself some room to change things around. In terms of making, you might have noticed certain films in which there’s a lot of showing off with the camera without actually knowing what to do with it — camera movement when there’s no need for it. But we wanted to handle each shot based solely on the emotion it was written around.
When you’re already known for such a strong filmmaking style, do you have to curb your instincts when you’re working with someone else’s script?
If I had to sit down to write the story of Dominic, I’m not sure if the core idea would have made me take it forward. But it’s also not too alien for me to have imagined. It’s somewhere in between.
I felt something similar when I made Queen (2019). It was liberating because I connected with the writing, even if I hadn't written it myself. With Jeyamohan’s Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu (2002), it was initially a short story that ended with Simbu’s character taking a train after getting hold of a gun. He then told me an idea about a parotta shop in Mumbai filled with 35 to 40 people who were henchmen. I identified with that idea, but I’m not sure if that idea would have come to me if I'd sat down to write it.
In a recent interview, you had mentioned that you pitched a script to Mammootty in 2005. What was that script about?
Yeah, Mammukka reminded me of that idea just recently. That was based on a book, and I’d set it somewhere in the middle of Coimbatore and Palakkad. It was about a police officer we meet on the last day before his retirement. His colleagues are throwing him a small send-off when he’s called away for work. There’s a murder and a body is found, and it falls on this officer to reveal that information to the victim’s mother. Once he does, the mother makes him promise that he’ll find the killer without knowing that he’s all set to retire. What happens to the investigation forms the rest of the movie…
This sounds exciting, and one can see how good Mammootty would have been in it. But having worked with him in two films now — one in the capacity of a co-actor (in Bazooka) — is there something that is different about his method?
During Dominic.., I’d first write the lines in Tamil, and then get my writer Neeraj Rajan to give me variations of those lines in Malayalam. I’d take these lines and keep reworking them in my head by imagining a performance while planning my shot division or the mood of a scene. But with actors like Mammootty sir, there’s just no way to really plan everything. He will give you a push with the performance that you simply cannot write. It is so much more. I’ve seen this earlier with Kamal sir and Simbu... and now with Mammootty.
Just recently, the re-release of Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein (2001) found a lot of love. It was initially a flop, but with this response now, did you feel a sense of validation?
When Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein does well today, I feel good, even though I still have my issues with that film. In contrast, I still like Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007) a lot, even though it didn’t do well at the box-office when it came out.
More recently, I think a film like Joshua would have been seen and appreciated by a lot more people, had it starred an actor like Suriya. When I see films like Kill and Marco, I feel Joshua could have been made with guys like that. With all due respect to Varun, I feel he came with the baggage of the films he had done before.
The only film I regret doing is Ennai Nokki Paayum Thotta (2019) and I’ve been joking about it. I’m not shirking away from my responsibilities, but it’s just my way of me not owning the film. Other than that, there is no regret, nor do I look for validation.
Is there a script you’ve had to abandon because of any external reason?
No no, I don’t think so. When I write a script, I always feel like making it the very next day. But there’s one script we’ve been sitting on for four to five years. It’s about an actor who does not believe in love, and then he meets this girl who is a romantic… it's a love story. No one has made it yet because, c’mon, nobody is making a love story today anyways, right?