Praveen Prabharam’s directorial début Kalki, set for release next week, will see Tovino Thomas playing a cop in the lead. Written by Sujin Sujathan and Praveen himself, the film features Samyuktha Menon, Shivajith, Vini Viswalal, Hareesh Uthaman and Sudheesh in the cast.
As he applies the finishing touches to his maiden venture, the director shares his excitement about the release with FridayReview. Edited excerpts from an interview...
What is Kalkiabout?
In mythology, Kalki is the avatar known as the destroyer of evil. Tovino Thomas plays a sub-inspector posted at a place called Nanjankotta on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. It’s a place where the people suffer under some powerful locals. Kalki is the story of a saviour who takes on the corrupt.
The teaser of Kalki has some scenes of violence and action
If Kalki is to be defined as a genre, it would be a political action drama. But there is not much violence, blood or gore in Kalki .
What prompted you to go for an action flick when there seems to be a shift towards realistic movies in Malayalam?
The story suited this kind of a narrative. I believe the audience enjoys masala movies at the theatre. Moreover, there hasn’t been many action movies of late. Kalki is set in a fictitious land, which gave me enough freedom to narrate the story in my own way. I think even in realistic cinema, the trick is to create a world in a convincing way.
Tovino Thomas in a still from ‘Kalki’
Usually, action movies are moulded as an eulogy for the hero...
The popular theory about action movies is that most of the viewers come to watch the hero and that works well in a commercial format. The rest of the characters barely get any space. It might be the accepted formula but my effort has been to break that concept. In Kalki, be it supporting characters or negative ones, they have depth and space. We have taken a lot of time in developing the script.
But female characters hardly have any role to play when it comes to action flicks...
I agree that female characters are often seen as ‘eye candy’ in action flicks. I was very particular about avoiding such a situation in Kalki and there are two strong female characters, one with negative shades played by Samyuktha Menon and the other essayed by Aparna Nair.
Your experience in the film world?
I studied direction at the Asian Academy of Film and Television and later worked in Mumbai in a few Hindi movies. In Malayalam, I have worked in movies such as Second Show, Koothara, Starring Pournami and Theevandi.
How is it like to be a débutante director in these times?
It is never easy. Some are lucky to get an early break. For me, it took quite a few years to reach here. I pitched my story to a lot of producers before I could finally do Kalki .
In certain instance, does the attempt to be politically correct hamper a filmmaker?
Such thoughts have never come to my mind. My focus has been to narrate a story while also enjoying the process of filmmaking. The only intention was to make my film entertaining.
