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Meeting sachin and about his fanship

 

‘Making my own film has always been a dream’: Prithviraj Sukumaran


As 2019 winds to a close, the actor-director explains why it has been a special year for him with 'Lucifer'

2019 will always be special for Prithviraj Sukumaran. It is the year in which he made his début as a director with Lucifer. The spectacular success of the movie perhaps prompted him to announce the sequel, Empuraan, which will also be his next directorial venture.
As the year comes to a close, Prithviraj is on a three-month break, something he has never done during his nearly 18-year-old acting career. But that is also the time he is planning to mould himself into Najeeb, his character in Aadujeevitham.
He has wrapped up the shoot of his scenes in Ayyappanum Koshiyum. His second home production, Driving Licence, hit the screens last week. Ayalvaashi, in which he teams up with his elder brother Indrajith, is in the pipeline.

Prithviraj, who is known for his candid speak, opens up about achieving his dreams and aiming for more, in an interview with Friday Review. Edited excerpts:

How do you look back at 2019?
Making my own film has always been a dream. This is the year I could manage to take time off to fulfil that dream. The entire focus was on making Lucifer a commercial success. Being able to achieve that was gratifying. The year was also special as I launched my own production house, starting off with Nine, which was a very off-the-beaten-path kind of a movie and now, Driving Licence.


And Lucifer?
I am happy with how Lucifer fared at the box office. We had a set of parameters within which we had to work. Everything about Lucifer was focused on taking it to the masses. The numbers that the movie raked in at the box office makes it evident that we succeeded in our endeavour.

Next is Blessy’s Aadujeevitham?
We are aware that everyone who has read the book would have imagined their own version of Aadujeevitham in their mind. What we are making is what Blessy has imagined.
We have only shot about 25% of the film and we are getting ready to shoot the major portions. Yes, Aadujeevitham is an ambitious project and I hope the movie turns out the way we hope it will.

You have played a superstar in Lal Jr.’s Driving Licence. How much did you model the character on yourself?
I am sure a lot of viewers will draw similarities between my character, Hareendran, and me in real life.
My love for cars is pretty well known and Hareendran is car-crazy. Like Hareendran, I also love driving my cars. I am perceived to have a short temper and Hareendran has a bit of that as well. But, having said that, this is another character that scriptwriter Sachy conceived.

Which one is easier to perform: Najeeb or Hareendran?
You cannot say all stars have similar lives. Though they are all actors, their personalities and preferences will be totally different.
The whole exercise of understanding what the writer has written and bringing your interpretations to the character are, for me, the same whether it be Hareendran in Driving Licence or Najeeb in Aadujeevitham.

What is your role in Ayyappanum Koshiyum?
I had a lot of fun doing the role of Koshi. It’s after a while that I am getting my hands on a raw and realistic premise, where somewhere down the line, the animal in the man comes out.

You are known to speak up on political or social issues. Aren’t you worried about ruffling feathers in the process?
In fact, my biggest problem is that, especially within the virtual world, people have forgotten to deal with dissent. If a fellow human being does not agree with you on something, that won’t automatically make him or her your enemy.
At least, the younger population need to understand the fact that dissent, discussion and debate are integral to a healthy democracy.

What keeps you passionate about acting?
After a point, what is generally perceived to be the attractions about the job, like fame or money, will cease to matter. Then it all boils down to the love for the medium and passion for the craft. What I love is being involved with the process of making a film. And that too, as an actor. It’s true that I enjoy directing movies but I see it as something that I do in between a break in my acting career.

Is there a kind of pressure to maintain the success that you have achieved?
As you grow in your career and become successful, the pressure increases. The more successful you are, the more the money riding on you. Whether you let those pressures dictate your decision-making is up to you.

Do you have a bucket list of new challenges or goals?
Now, I am in a position in my career where if I like a subject, I can pretty much facilitate that process by myself.
I have the influence and the means to make that happen. My wish is that this remains the same as long as I am in the industry.

After the splendid success of Lucifer, will the great expectations bog you down during the making of Empuraan?
I know that people will walk into a theatre to watch Empuraan from where Lucifer had stopped. The excuse of being a debutant will no longer be there for me. And I also need to tell myself that I can’t let any such thoughts be the architect of how Empuraan is made.

 

Prithviraj talks movie ‘Driving Licence’ and highs and lows of 2019
The Malayalam actor has a licence to thrill as he speaks about his highs and lows of 2019


Malayalam superstar Prithviraj, who will roll out his new film ‘Driving Licence’ on December 26 in UAE cinemas, describes 2019 as a significant year in his life.


“I should rate it as one of the most important, influential years of my career,” Prithviraj told Gulf News tabloid! in a phone interview.

“It’s the year that I realised a long-time dream of mine of turning into a director … As an actor, I am proud to have started off with an unconventional film like ‘9’ and as a distributor I managed to bring in an international studio like Sony Pictures to Malayalam films … This is the year that I have branched out more than ever. I have directed, produced and distributed films,” Prithviraj said.

‘Driving License’ is a tale of a popular actor Hareendran (Prithviraj) trying to secure a driving permit swiftly and how he manages to tick off a diehard fan and vehicle inspector, played by actor Suraj Venjaramoodu. This is his second home production and is one of the last Malayalam films to be released this year.




The trailer makes you wonder if the actor plays himself in his new film, but Prithviraj is quick to clarify any such misconceptions.

"It's not me"

“‘Driving Licence’ is not about me. It’s about two fictional characters … I play a superstar who is in the public eye. When you give shape and life to such a character, you try to construct a pattern for that character that will easily resonate with somebody watching the character,” he said.

The actor claims the character Hareendran wasn’t written for him originally.


“It was written for Mr Mammootty,” said Prithiviraj, referring to one of Malayalam cinema’s longest enduring superstars whose appeal and arrogance is notorious.

“Actually all these qualities about the character is how Mammootty is perceived … Since the first choice was Mr Mammootty, I think the writer would have drawn a lot from the perceptions about him,” said Prithviraj, adding that he shared his character Hareendran’s craze for cars and driving. Prithviraj is a motor head and is the proud owner of a fleet of luxury cars.


But the movie isn’t about swanky cars alone. It explores the tenuous relationship between a superstar and his ardent fan. ‘Driving Licence’ is also a film that adds to Malayalam cinema’s rich history of making films about ordinary subjects with an extraordinary flair. For instance, 2019 was all about movies that took a strand from an ordinary person’s life and turned it into a riveting piece of cinema and commentary. The award-winning slice-of-life blockbuster ‘Kumbalangi Nights’ and survivor thriller ‘Helen’ are fine examples of such delightful films.


“Malayalam cinema is lucky to have such young, intelligent writers who can pick up a small incident and construct a tale around him … There’s a new generation of writers now who are very different from each other. They can spin a tale on the dinner table conversation you had last night,” said Prithviraj, adding that solid writing is the spine of any good film.


Written by Sachi, ‘Driving Licence’ directed by Lal Jr aims to be portrait of that acidic wit and humour popular among Malayalis.

“There is Sachi who has this superb knack of taking on Malayali cynicism that we are famous for and putting a funny spin on it … Lots of our humour is based on sarcasm and cynicism. It’s deep rooted within us,” the actor said.


‘Driving Licence’, which has opened to positive reviews in Kerala after its release on December 20, further strengthens Prithviraj’s foothold in the industry. He will begin work on ‘Lucifer’s’ sequel ‘Empuraan’ after he finishes shooting for a film written by Murali Gopy and directed by Rathish Ambat. He compares Gopy’s process to rain formation. ‘Empuraan’s’ script is written by the same talent.


“Murali’s writing process from pen to paper is short. He will only take a week. But it’s his discussions that take a long time. He rightly compared his process of writing to the process of rain forming,” Prithviraj said. “The rain may last only an hour, but clouds gather, there’s moisture in the air and that process started more than a year. Rain is just the tipping point and that’s what makes his writing great.”

Don’t miss it!

‘Driving Licence’ is out in the UAE cinemas on December 26.

QUOTE UNQUOTE:

“I have used my privilege as a star hundreds of times … To cut a line or to go straight through the check-in at the airport,” said Prithviraj, adding that their presence could create chaos in a public place.