PremiumExclusive! Biju Menon: After Lalitham Sundaram hit OTT, many shared how they could connect emotionally with it
The Madhu Wariar directorial, which also has Manju Warrier and Anu Mohan as part of the cast, marked Biju Menon’s first direct-to-OTT release
Last Updated: 01.15 PM, Mar 25, 2022
Malayalam actor Biju Menon is among the favourites of the family audience in Kerala. Throughout his career, the actor has made sure he chose scripts that would entertain the audience in theatres. With his latest film Lalitham Sundaram, which released on Disney+ Hotstar on March 18, the actor also got to taste first-hand the difference in feedback of OTT releases vis-à-vis theatricals.
In an exclusive chat with OTTplay about Madhu Wariar’s directorial, co-starring Manju Warrier and Anu Mohan, Biju says that after the film had hit the OTT platform, several people, whom he had never talked to, had reached out to share their thoughts about the film.
“Normally, there is a group of people from within the industry as well as film enthusiasts who would usually call after watching my movies. But in the case of this film, people, whom I had never expected and had gone to great lengths to get my number, called me and shared their thoughts and how they connected emotionally to the film,” says the actor. “That was because of the reach of the movie as well as how it made them feel. They had to talk a lot about their relationships and family. As far as we are concerned, we wanted to make a simple film, just like its title. But it did create a strong impression in the minds of a lot of people.”
In interviews before the film’s release, Biju had said that the prime element that attracted him to the script was how much he could relate to it. “When Madhu first pitched the film to me, he described it as a ‘feel-good movie’ and then he went ahead and elaborated on the various aspects of the film that touched upon relationships and nostalgia. So, I told him that it would be great if focused more on those aspects, and he immediately said that’s what he too had in mind,” he says.
The Ayyappanum Koshiyum actor also explains that it was a natural choice to go ahead with such a movie because the incidents that Lalitham Sundaram focuses on – including parents and siblings – are what he and his friends including Madhu would discuss when they are all together in real life.
Having known both Madhu and Manju for long, ask him if working in the film felt like a breeze and h says, “As it was Madhu’s first film, all of us made sure that he was at ease. When Madhu suggested Raghunath Paleri sir’s casting, I was immediately for it because I loved his role as a soft-natured father in the movie. So, within the first two days, all of us gelled well. We shot the movie almost in a linear way according to the scene order in the film. It was also a comfortable experience because it didn’t have too many exaggerated scenes. All of these incidents are things that we observe in our families.”
On sharing screen space with Manju after a gap of 20 years, Biju says, “Frankly, we never felt there was such a gap. Ideally, we should have noticed some difference when we were doing our first scene together in two decades, but we didn’t; maybe because we never thought about that. Also, we never felt Manju was the producer of the film because she was that friendly.”