Mohanlal has the ability see the depth of a writer, says director Blessy
Mohanlal has acted in many remarkable characters in his 35 year long acting career. One of major facets of Mohanlal the actor is, the viewers do not the get to see the challenges hidden behind a character because he makes them look so effortless on screen.
Rameshan Nair in Thanmathra is such a role that comes across very rarely for an actor to show his prowess. The heart wrenching performance of Mohanlal in the movie is one of the best we can see from any actor. Mohanlal stepped into the shoes of Rameshan Nair, a normal government employee who leads a happy life with his family before tragedy struck one fine day in the form of Alzheimer’s disease.
Director of the movie, Blessy in a recent interview recounted the experience of working with Mohanlal in the movie. He said, “I started my career as an assistant to director Padmarajan in 1986. The first movie I worked was Nammukku Paarkkan Munthiri Thoppukal and my first clap was for Mohanlal. I had the plot of Thanmathra in my head even before making my debut movie Kaazhcha. After finishing Kaazhcha, I again started working on Thanmathra but could not write a proper full bound script.
I went to Mohanlal and narrated the plot, about the character and some sequences in the movie. He was impressed with that but had a doubt about how the family scenes will be captured authentically. After completing the script, I gave it to my producer who read it with his friends. After finishing he asked me what is there in the script for Mohanlal to enact. I was broken on hearing this but still went up to Mohanlal to show the full script.
After reading the whole script, he told me that he will act in the movie only if there is no further changes in the script. I am very poor in narrating a story, one has to be very patient while listening to my script. But, Mohanlal was able to apprehend the script in my mind from a small one liner. He has got that ability to understand the depth of the plot, may be through the knowledge he acquired from vast reading and his prowess in literary works.
Rameshan Nair was not an easy to role to act. There is a particular scene in the movie where he asks his son “Sir aaraa”. Every normal man thinks before giving an expression, but an Alzheimer’s affected person has already lost the ability to think. This is one such case where we could see Mohanlal’s precised acting skills on display.”
Blessy has also directed Mohanlal in two more movies, Bhramaram and Pranyam. Both the movies were critically and commercially acclaimed.
