Interview : Maniyan Pillai Raju – Part I

June 28, 2007 by vc | 17 Comments

The editors of Varnachitram recently had an opportunity to chat with Maniyan Pillai Raju (Actor/Producer). Raju, a successful producer with movies like Ananthabhadram, Chotta Mumbai, Vellanakalude Naadu, Ey Auto, and Anaswaram gave us insights into various aspects of film making. Like the characters he plays on screen, he was jovial, honest and informal. The concluding part of this interview will be published tomorrow.

VC: Please tell us about the movies you have produced.

A. Hello My dear Wrong Number with Mohanlal and Priyadarshan, Vellanakalude Naadu which ran 100 Days,Eey Auto which ran for 125 Days, Ananswaram with Mammootty and Jomon which didn’t do well, Kannezhuthi Pottum Thootu which was a good movie. Then Ananthabadram, and now for this Vishu I have produced Chotta Mumbai

VC: Vellanakalude Naadu had a socially relevant theme. Ananthabhadram was very different from rest of the movies. Chotta Mumbai, the new one is a typical entertainer. Can you talk a little about the movie and why you chose to produce an entertainer?

A: Chotta Mumbai is total entertainer full fun film. A comedy movie filled with black humour, and no heroism. It’s like viewing a cartoon. People will forget everything and enjoy themselves for 2 hours and 20 minutes.

VC: From Ananthabhadram to Chotta Mumbai is a big transformation, what prompted you to do Chotta Mumbai?

A: We brought in a great technician for Ananthabhadram, Santosh Sivan. We wanted to make a good movie – technically and artistically superior movie. The movie came out well, it was showcased in many festivals, and won about 10 awards. But financially Ananthabhadram incurred huge loss for us producers. We lost about 85 Lakh rupees. For a producer like me, to makeup the losses from Ananthabadram, I had to plan a commercial entertainer with Mohanlal in it, who is a sure winner at box office. We didn’t want to do a serious, classic movie now, as I wanted make up the losses incurred with Ananthabadram. I am not saying that we don’t need serious, artistic movies. But as a producer, I had to go for Chotta Mumbai so that I can recover from losses created due to Ananthabhadram.

VC: How do you think Chotta Mumbai is faring in box office?

A: Among the six movies released for Vishu, Chotta Mumbai is on the top.(This interview was recorded before the final collection figures are known: editor)

VC:When we were bored seeing Self Sacrificing Brother themes and Malayalees going to Tamil Nadu theme, your movie Ananthabhadram was very different. The story and the excellent visuals made for a refreshing viewing . What was the motivation behind that movie/ what led to it?

A: I was visiting a friend of mine, Sunil Parameswaran. He had written a novel for Manorama and had submitted for Manorama Novel awards, which he asked me to read. I was not interested initially. Sunil described a scene from the novel for me and I got hooked. I took the novel from him and finished reading it by next morning. After reading, I felt that this story had a lot of materials in it which would excel as a movie. I gave Rs.10000 as advance to Sunil and told him that I would definitely make a movie or a serial out of this. A week after that, this novel won the Malayala Manorama award for best novel. That was the starting point.

Initially I wanted this movie to be directed by Sabu Cyril. I felt that this is a type of movie Bharathan should have done. Since Bharathan is not with us now, when it comes to art Sabu Cyril is No.1 in India. I tried discussing this movie with Sabu Cyril, but he was busy with Shankar and Maniratnam’s projects. His time and the time line we planned for this movie were not in sync. I almost gave up on this movie. Then Santosh Sivan got interested in this subject, and he expressed interest in doing it. Mammootty or Mohanlal didn’t have scope in this movie. Both of them are my friends, I’ve been in this industry for more than 30 years. Considering the main character’s age and body language, I felt that Pritviraj would be ideal for that role.

Movie came out very well, it was very poetic and came out like a beautiful painting.

VC: One of the best scenes in Ananthabhadram was the song Pinakkamano which had all these Ravi Varma Paintings come to life. Original idea and very refreshing to see. We were wondering why no one thought of such wonderful concepts before?

A: You have to give credit to the genius of Santosh Sivan for that.

VC: That is absolutely correct. But now we see also this trend of aping Tamil movies and having songs in foreign countries which has no relation to the story. Does this help at all?

A: Going to foreign countries and filming songs, is a cliched thing. It’s not necessary. Look at the songs of Ananthabadram, they are beautifully pictured.

There’s another reason why I went on to produce a movie like Chotta Mumbai. Tamil movies like Pokkiri gets released in Kerala and people crowd theatres and such movies make a lot of money. Good Malayalam movies finds no audience. I felt that people in Kerala, especially youth have their tastes changed. They seem to like youth oriented fast movies. That prompted me towards producing a movie like Chotta Mumbai.

VC: You chose Ananthabadram for it’s refreshing story, as viewers our major complaint is the lack of original interesting stories. In Malayalam there are only a very few themes, we find template stories which are very predictable like Self Sacrificing Brother themes and Malayalis going to Tamil Nadu theme or Underworld themes. As a producer haven’t you faced this dilemma – i.e. lack of original stories?

A: I agree, what we are lacking in good stories. Some time back there were very good stories, personalities like M.T.Vasudevan Nair, Padmarajan were very active in movies. There were many literary figures contributing to cinema. Mammootty and Mohanlal were very lucky, during that period they were able to do characters of substance. But look at the scene now! In the last 3 or 4 years I have not come across a story or novel written by anyone in the age range of 20-25. Literary field is in shambles. There are no good novels, short stories or poems happening. New generation is not interested in these things, they have no reading habits, they are keen only on information exchange through computers and all. Can you show me any magazine in which a good short story or novel written by a 25 year old person in last 5 years? Literary field is totally dry. That has affected cinema. For example, for Chotta Mumbai, we all had big discussions and somehow managed to put together a story. Actually it’s not even a story, just an adjustment. It’s the lack of activity in Malayalam literature field which has affected the Malayalam cinema.

VC: So as a producer, you have to rely on whatever is available and somehow manage to put together a story? Right?

A: Yes, that’s correct. Sometimes people call me on phone and say they have a story to narrate. When I hear them I feel like laughing. For example, it will be a story like Chotta Mumbai. Instead of Christian family, it’ll be Hindu family. For Ananthabhadram I was lucky to get a good story. But nowadays people bore me to death when they come to read scripts for me. They will rehash old hit movies with small twists here and there. No one is coming forward with good story or script.

VC: We feel that in Hindi movies there is small, but refreshing changes happening. For example Munnabhai series. Those movies were not typical Hindi movies, but were innovative entertainers.

A: I feel that it’s in Tamil movies where the revolution is happening. Lot of good directors and script writers are entering into the field there. Actually I was inspired to produce Chotta Mumbai after I saw Munnabhai. I see no point in showing heroism and all, there should be movies like Munnabhai.

VC:The number of releases in Malayalam is coming down a lot. For example last year we had about 53 releases. Just four years back, in 2002, we had 111 releases. It has fallen by half. This affects theatre owners and they are now showing Tamil and Hindi movies to make money and a lot of them are closing down. In this situation what is your take on the future of the industry?

A: I see that movies like Dhoom, Hrithik Roshan’s movies, Tamil movies,Hollywood movies like Spiderman series make a lot of money here. So theatre owners might be able to survive. But when it comes to Malayalam movies situation is pathetic. In 2007, only movie which made money was Mammootty’s Mayavi. Among Vishu releases, Chotta Mumbai is making money(This interview was recorded before the final collection figures are known: editor). People have wrong ideas about a movies success. For example, Ananthabadram, it’s a movie which had celebrated 100 days and all. But in reality as a producer, I had lost lots of money. When a movie’s rights are sold, in the case of US distributor, we will get just 2 lakh rupees. US distributor gets the print and I am sure that he would show the movie all over US and make at least 10 lakh rupees where as as a producer we end up with such a small amount.

VC: As Mammotty and Mohanlal are aging, there is just Dileep to play the youngster and Jayasurya or Prithviraj to play the college student. Most Malayalam heroines, except Kavya Madhavan have one foot in another film industry. So we need to import actresses also. Why is no new talent coming up? Is it dues to the lack of talent or politics or unwillingness on the part of film makers to promote new actors? Why are producers and directors not encouraging new actors?

A: In Malayalam, all the actors are very talented. As I said earlier, Mammootty and Mohanlal got established because they got a lot of author backed roles earlier in their career. A fresh face like Prithviraj, who is very talented and good looking among the newcomers becomes a star when people rush in to see his movies. But people in Kerala are still stuck with Mammootty and Mohanlal. Only when they change their preferences and are willing to see movies of Prithviraj and other newcomers would move up. Let me ask you one thing, when movies are released abroad, would you give preference to Mohanlal’s movies?

VC: We give preference to good movies, it doesn’t matter who is the actor.

A: Maybe that’s a phenomenon only abroad, here it’s different. Frankly, I’m scared to cast a newcomer in my movies. Newcomers won’t attract people to theatres. In Kerala people still prefer Mammootty and Mohanlal. Just imagine, so many peoples livelihood is dependent on a producer. As a producer I spend so much money, pay and feed so many people. It’s a pity if I don’t get back at least what I invested. If I get anything more than I invested then it’s god’s grace. Or let me suggest something, I am ready to produce a good movie with newcomers, would an NRI come forward to finance it? Or if someone wants to take a bigger risk even I am ready to become a hero. (Laughs). It’s a risky thing to do with my own money, but I am willing to do that if it’s someone else’s money.

VC: In that case we are ready to write a script for such a movie.

A: Of course, why not. If you have a good script, I am more than willing to produce it.

To be continued …