A Mohanlal obsession

While making Mohanlal, director Sajid Yahiya met some extremely ‘committed’ Mohanlal fans, it was his way of understanding the workings of the psyche of film-obsessed people. And what he encountered, has left him awestruck, “A woman scheduled her C-section so that the birth of her child would coincide with Mohanlal’s birthday. Imagine doing that? That is something isn’t is it? That level of devotion...” he asks, sounding wonder-struck.

“There is always a reason for a fan, why she or he becomes a committed fan. There is an emotional connect of a huge actor or star to an ordinary person’s life, reasons which we may not often know or understand. My film was born out of that basic thought,” he goes on. His film charts the course of the life of a Mohanlal obsessed fan; this film is probably a first of its kind — named after an actor (living and working).

A film from a fan’s perspective is not new, he emphasises. The 1971 film Guddi, for instance, was one such, then there is the 2016 Shahrukh Khan film Fan. “You take a basic premise and then weave story with its uniqueness. For instance IDI was a cop film, but then so were Action Hero Biju or for that matter Commissioner before that, but each has a different narrative, sequence of how the action takes place.” He says he has been carrying the idea of this story for a while now, even before his directorial debut IDI (2016). The time for the film was now, he says.

Manju Warrier essays the role of Mohanlal-crazy Meenukutty (again a character in a Mohanlal film Aye Auto) and how she goes through life seeing a character from a Mohanlal film or a character Mohanlal has essayed in her everyday life. Panning the camera on a woman fan gives a different, interesting dimension to the film.

Sajid credits Suneesh Varanad, the scenarist, for how the film has shaped up, “He brought the fun element into the film, from the perspective of a regular person which enhanced the story greatly.” A radio channel helped him find, and meet, Mohanlal fans like Meenukutty.

The film starts with Meenukutty’s birth that coincides with one of Mohanlal’s earliest films Manjil Virinja Pookal. From that film to Pulimurugan, the journey spans more than 30 years, which wasn’t easy. The chronology of the films had to be taken care of. More than anything, Sajid is grateful to the actor for letting him use his name.

“This film wouldn’t have been possible if Lalettan hadn’t given us permission to use his name. It is a big thing for me; I came from Alappuzha with the cinema dream without many contacts and have been chasing it.” He was involved with Friday Film House, film promotion ventures, and even acted in a handful of films before turning director.

Who better to essay the role of a superstar than a superstar – Manju Warrier. “She was, obviously, curious about the film given its name. When she heard the story she was in. Same goes for Indrajith. They have both performed excellently,” Sajid says. Going by the trailer, one gets a glimpse of the old Manju Warrier. Indrajith plays her supportive husband, also a Mohanlal fan but much more in control of his devotion, who ‘gets’ her eccentricity, lives, and deals with it. The film boasts a cast of more than 50 actors among who are KPAC Lalitha, Soubin Sahir, Salim Kumar, Aju Varghese, Siddique and Sreejith Ravi.

The songs have been composed by Tony Joseph, the ‘Laletta’ song by Prarthana Indrajith has found immense popularity, editing is by Shameer Mohammed and cinematography, Shaji Kumar.

He explains the two year gap between his films, “This film has several details, and we had to get them right and that took time.”

So he is a Mohanlal fan? “I am a fan of both Lalettan and Mammookka (Mammootty). If one is my heart, the other is my heartbeat!”