Before Kasargold OTT release, Mridul Nair says, ‘The film I shot wasn’t the one that hit theatres’

Kasargold director Mridul Nair also explains why the Asif Ali-starrer lacked emotional depth

Poster of Kasargold and (R) Mridul Nair

While director Mridul Nair and Asif Ali’s sophomore collaboration , Kasargold, after BTech came its set to expectations, the movie didn’t quite live up to it during its theatrical release. However, with the film, which also has Sunny Wayne in the lead, set to drop on Netflix on October 13, the filmmaker is hoping that the movie gets a wider reach.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, its director Mridul Nair also reveals that he wasn’t “happy at all” by the version of the thriller that had hit theatres last month.

“The film that I shot wasn’t exactly the film that was released,” he says. “I was working with a corporate production team and they had their own way of pressuring us to go with a certain edit. So, there were a lot of emotional scenes and connectivity that got chopped.”

The director explains that feedback he got after the film’s theatrical release was that the “audience had trouble connecting with Asif’s character in Kasargold as there was no emotional hook”. “But when you watch a Hollywood action film, how do you connect with its characters? It’s not necessary that every film should have an emotional hook. For me, it’s a lesson, something that I want to learn from,” he says.

Also read: Kasargold review: Asif Ali, Sunny Wayne-starrer is a relentlessly pacy and action-packed outing

In his defense, the filmmaker says that it was something he had considered while making the film. “For instance, people might not have realised that the person Vinayakan’s character murders in the boat is Asif’s only uncle and the audience didn’t quite understand the relationship between Asif and Malavika Sreenath’s characters. These were cut due to pressure (from the producers),” Mridul explains.

Ask him if he had expressed his displeasure and the director says, “Those from my team – the writer, editor or assistant directors – weren’t convinced by the edited version that hit theatres. As soon as we realised the film had mixed reviews, I called up one of the producers and asked if it was possible to re-edit the film like how we intended it to be. Their reply was, ‘Who will bear those expenses?’, because we will have to redo the edit offline, grade it and mix it.”

Mridul, however, adds that he is hoping that Kasargold will get a better reach after its OTT release on Netflix on October 13.

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