Tag: Shehnad Jalal

Bramayugam has taken the box office by storm the world over and director Rahul Sadasivan is taking in the adulation with a smile. Shot entirely in black and white, the horror thriller headlined by a terrific Mammootty is being hailed as a never-before-seen cinematic experience in Malayalam cinema. Bramayugam set in 17th-century Malabar revolves around a dilapidated mana (mansion), where the imposing Koduman Potty (Mammootty) stays with his cook (Sidharth Bharathan). Thevan (Arjun Ashokan), a member of the Panan community, arrives at the mana, while escaping from his captors. Potty gives him food and refuge but Thevan does not know what is in store for him there.

If his debut film, Red Rain (2013) was a sci-fi thriller, in his second film, Bhoothakalam (2022), Rahul scared the audience with the story of a mother and son staying in a haunted house. In Bramayugam, he blends folklore with horror and creates thrills and chills with the story, the setting and performances, supported by stunning production design, cinematography and music. Scripted by Rahul himself, the narrative is also an eerie take on power dynamics as it weaves in aspects such as greed and caste discrimination.

Rahul says that the story of Bramayugam was with him even before he made Bhoothakalam. “I wanted to tell a story from folklore. The inspiration was perhaps those images etched in my mind from my visits to my parents’ native place in Palakkad. The rural landscape with age-old ancestral houses, some of them deserted, and the ambience remained with me. I have gone back to those vignettes to write the story.”

It was the humungous success of Bhoothakalam that gave him the confidence to approach Mammootty, Rahul says. “If Bhoothakalam was a modern-day horror tale, I wanted to do something different in my next project to excite the audience. Since I wanted to tell a period drama, I knew that it had to be told in black and white. Mammootty was my only choice for the central character. I knew that only he could bring the power and enigma of that aged character on screen. Once he liked the story, we did a test shoot of one of the scenes in black and white. We worked on the grading, texture, contrast and several other aspects until we were confident about going ahead. I could never imagine Bramayugam in colour!” he emphasises.

The 72-year-old thespian has been on a roll with his choice of roles in the last couple of years and Koduman Potty is another addition to his oeuvre. “He always delivered more than what I expected. There were many scenes where he surprised all of us. His mannerisms, body language, dialogue delivery… everything was unique.”

The two other actors, Sidharth and Arjun are also getting positive reviews for their performances. “Once Mammookka was finalised, we started looking for actors to play these two key roles. Eventually the roles went to these two.”

Rahul mentions that he makes it a point to have a storyboard for his movies. “I have everything on paper before the shoot starts, for clarity on different aspects of the filmmaking process and the visual language. And I had a strong team who understood the world I created,” says the director who learnt filmmaking from London Film Academy and did his masters in animation and VFX from University of South Wales.

The shoot took over 50 days, but preparations started much in advance. The mana was set up in Ottappalam by the team led by art director Jothish Shankar. “Except for one of the scenes that was shot at Varikkassery Mana [shooting location for some of the popular Malayalam films in Ottappalam], the rest was set inside the mana. In fact, the vegetation you see around the mana, especially the wild grass, was grown by the team over two months. Eventhough I was telling a fictional story, creating a believable setting was important for me. I wanted everything to look real, without any gimmicks. For instance, the kitchen had to look stinky, filthy and messy and you realise the reason as the story progresses,” he explains. Rain is a crucial component of the narrative, he adds. “It is like a character and we had to bring that feeling of being stuck in that weather.”

The forest cover was areas in and around Malayattoor, while the waterfall shot in the beginning — one of the breathtakingly beautiful sequences in the movie — is from Athirappilly. “Athirappilly waterfall has been shown in several movies and we didn’t want to go with cliched shots. So we went with different camera angles for that shot,” he says, referring to his cinematographer, Shehnad Jalal, who also shot Bhoothakalam.

“I had discussed Bramayugam with him while we were shooting Bhoothakalam. A black-and-white film is on the wishlist of all filmmakers and cinematographers. When I told him this idea, he said it was his dream to do a black-and-white project. It has its challenges, but then a black-and-white frame has its charm and timelessness,” Rahul adds.

Rahul says that composer Christo Xavier was with the team throughout the making process. “Once I gave him a brief idea about the project, he sent a demo within two days. I was so impressed by the score that there were no second thoughts about having him on board. I have a fantastic team of assistant directors and one among them is Din Nath Puthenchery, son of veteran lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery. He has written three songs,” Rahul says.

He stresses that the project would not have happened but for the producers, Night Shift Studios, a production house exclusively into horror films under YNot Studios, one of the leading production houses. “This is the maiden production of Night Shift Studios. They had got in touch with me after Bhoothakalam through MR Rajakrishnan [audiographer/sound mixer]. When I I told them about Bramayugam I laid down three conditions – it will be a period movie, I want to make it in black and white and I needed Mammootty. They [S Sashikanth and Chakravarthy Ramachandra] got so excited that they stood by my vision. Without the backing of such a producer it would have been difficult for me to realise my dream.” According to the producers, the movie has been made with a budget of ₹27.73 crores, exclusive of the promotion expenses.

So, is he planning to tell more horror stories? Rahul says with a laugh, “I have many concepts in my mind and the stories I have told till now have been there with me for a long time.”