Director Radha Mohan Interview: Chutney Sambar cannot happen without Yogi Babu | EXCLUSIVE

If you sense a pattern in films like Azhagiye Theeye, Mozhi, Abhiyum Naanum, and Malaysia To Amnesia, it would be how these stories are not only emotionally charged films filled with lighter moments but also a film that never points fingers at one particular character, or let's say in common terms, a villain. Well, that's Radha Mohan films for you.

Does he believe that the world is filled with people who are only partially gray and the existence of completely bad personalities is null, "I think humankind is always a mix of both. In fact, in this series, there is a dialogue that says if at all there is a completely good person, that one is either yet to be born or already dead. If you take this series, we may see some people and have great respect for them but they might have a dark secret which might change our perspective," says Radha Mohan as he shares the dialogue from his upcoming series Chutney Sambar. 

Also read: Chutney Sambar 2024: Release date, trailer, crew, cast, OTT platform and more 

Excerpts from Radha Mohan interview

Your films don’t have a villain. Do you think having a villain drive the conflict is a convenient choice you don't want to take?

Well, it is something that I realised after many pointed out. Take Abhiyum Naanum, many could not understand the conflict when the story was told, nor could I explain it. Only when the performances showed, they were able to understand it. The perspective of the father while seeing his daughter before and after falling in love, his pain whether real or exaggerated, was shown. I think those choices come unconsciously. Had the father been against the love, he would have been a typical villain. Yet, there is a block which we made it into a conflict.

Your films seem to have uniquely placed premises with common characters. How do you arrive at such stories?

If you take Mozhi, it is a character that I have seen while growing up. I stayed in a housing board colony and it is based on the girl I saw. She used to be happy and went about her life. That character stayed in my mind and of course, there were cinematic liberties like what if she fell in love with a composer. If you see, I would have retained the apartment setting, and in fact, the professor character is a mix of two characters I have seen in real life, among other multi-characters. In fact, Manobala's character from Abhiyum Naanum is also a real-life character I had seen once in Kerala.

So, are you on a constant lookout for your memory bank?

Everyone in the creative field is mostly observant. But that does not mean we are on a constant lookout and monitoring others. We should not cross the line or begin to judge and analyse them. Otherwise, we cannot be peaceful. We should just keep our eyes and ears open and when we happen to see such unique characters, we automatically spot them as a creative person. We cannot be searching for the next story everywhere we go.

What is the start of your stories? Is it a premise, conflict, character or incidence?

There is no proper way. You never know the moment. Some could be characters, or an instance we saw. You never know what inspires you. It is a magic which you cannot predict when it will occur. Even with Chutney Sambar, it came about when I was having a meal in one of the famous restaurants in the city, where Sambar is famous. How to bring chutney from one place and sambar another, to make it into one meal?

Also read: Disney+ Hotstar teases release of Chutney Sambhar, check out the new poster here 

Where did you see the potential for Chutney Sambar?

Once I got a one-liner, everything fell into place. First I made it as a story and the thing is, this story can happen only if Yogi Babu is there. No one else can play it convincingly. So once the story was ready, I approached him. Even he thought I wanted him for a comical character only. But later after I clarified, because only after he is in, can I develop the story further. Later, we had an idea to develop it as a series and there were further additions like more characters, back stories, and hook lines.

What were the notes from your OTT film Malaysia to Amnesia that helped you with Chutney Sambar?

Malaysia To Amnesia was done during the pandemic and we had lot of restrictions which we had to keep in mind while writing the screenplay, like doing crowd scenes. We had conceived it as an 80-minute film and we wanted to only make a light content. Frankly, the film did not get good reviews either because they wanted some dark content from OTTs. However, from the audience side, the film was received well. Many felt the film was a relief. But it also came at a time when OTTs were meant only for dark thrillers, and proved that people are willing to watch lighter content as well.

How do you see making OTT-bound projects, given people have become choosy about what to watch in theatres?

Here we can do only series for OTT, but personally I feel it would be good if we can do OTT films too. People prioritise watching magnum opus on big screens with many content-oriented films going unnoticed despite getting good reviews. There is a challenge of good films not able to make a good run in theatres. But when it comes to OTT, we can express more. Say a character speaking a Madras slag would need to utter certain words for the flavour, but censorship will not allow it. But we need to also not misuse the freedom.