EXCLUSIVE | Mahesh Narayanan on Ariyippu: 'I knew this film was for streaming platform and not for theatre'

Mahesh Narayanan’s _Ariyippu_ , which translates to Declaration, will be streaming on Netflix from today. It premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival earlier this year in August and opened to glowing reviews. And in an exclusive interview with Firstpost, the director, along with the lead pair Kunchacko Boban and Divya Prabha, spoke about the film and their take on the vitality of the OTT platform to gage a wider audience. Mahesh Narayanan on the idea behind his films C U Soon was a story that was lying with me for a long time. During the pandemic, we were all stuck. It was because of the restrictions I had to adapt to a different way of filmmaking, that’s how that film happened. This one is also set during the pandemic, it’s about laborers from Kerala trying to migrate. Most of my stories have got this migration angle. I knew this film was for a platform and not for theatre, so I had that liberty to conceptualise and make it honest from my end. There’s also language diversity in the film. None of the scenes happen in Kerala, even though it deals with a Malayali couple. On choosing his actors The discussions happen after the script is ready. I then discuss with my friends. And Chacko ji is also my friend. It’s also about the kind of bond we share. _Ariyippu_ is the kind of a role he has never tried before, and I always want to push him to do something new. This is a give and take kind of a process. And Divya has been associated with my films for a longer time, not as a main lead but in character roles. I didn’t want someone to be miscast, someone who doesn’t look or feel like a factory worker. On the window between theatrical release and OTT premiere expanding Regarding this film, it’s a direct digital release. A filmmaker should have the platform to work in both the mediums. If you’re making a film for theatre, people need certain kind of a USP to come inside. But certain films are meant only for the digital platform, where you can pause, go into the details, rewind and watch it again. Kunchacko Boban on starting at the age of 5 Technically I started at the age of 21. I was labeled as the romantic hero for the longest time and it took me hell lot of hard work to shed that image. Mahesh was very instrumental in doing that. This is my 25th year in the industry, so when we joined hands for Ariyippu, I felt it was a movie very rooted and grounded, and we wanted to take it to a global level. We started from Locarno, traveling all the way to Busan, Marrakesh, so that journey has been quite wonderful. Mahesh and my journey has also been quite wonderful. On producing the film I told Mahesh this was the best script he wrote till now. When we joined hands to produce _Ariyippu_ , we knew we had to base this on another level. This movie has a very commercial angle, but Mahesh wanted to keep it very realistic and true to the story. We knew the returns after investing the money would take longer but we were up for that. We also have actors and the crew from the North to give the film that pan-Indian feel. Passion is what drove us. Divya Prabha on her character in the film It was thrilling and exciting. I’m always looking forward to doing something challenging. I always had the tendency to observe people in my surroundings. The script is very well written and the dialogues are very organic. Mahesh gave such precise details about the character, I just followed it. Even the whole ambience of the hospital helped me get into the character. On working with Mahesh Narayanan again It took me nine years to do a lead role in his film. This is my third film with him and I’m so grateful to be a part of this. There should be a chemistry with your co-actor and director also. In this film, he has given more freedom to actors than his last two films. That really helped me to do better.

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