Exclusive! Dinoy Paulose: For Pathrosinte Padappukal, I had to try out several challenges including doing romance

The success of Malayalam movies such as debutant director Chidambaram’s Jan.E.Man and Girish AD’s Super Sharanya has the makers of Pathrosinte Padappukal too in an optimistic mood. The film will release in theatres on March 18, along with five other Mollywood movies on OTTs and cinema halls including Manju Warrier’s Lalitham Sundaram, Dulquer Salmaan’s Salute and Anoop Menon’s 21 Grams. However, given that Dinoy Paulose, the co-scriptwriter of Thaneer Mathan Dinangal has already gained a cult following after his debut film, no one is taking the upcoming comedy entertainer lightly.

In a quick chat with OTTplay, Dinoy, who also plays the lead in the Afzal Abdul Latheef directorial, talks about the movie co-starring Sharafudheen, Naslen, Ranjitha Menon and James Eliya, his scripting process and more.

Tell us about the experience of playing the protagonist in a film based on your own script.

When you know that you are the one who is playing the role, during the scripting itself, you are trying to account for your limitations while creating the character. But Pathrosinte Padappukal wasn’t written keeping in mind that I will be acting in it. After I have completed writing, I had to rework it accounting for my flaws and strengths. Even then for this particular script, I have taken up several challenges. For instance, I have never done romance; I have never even loved in real life (laughs). So, it’s a new terrain for me. However, I have also focused on areas I am familiar with such as comedy. Everything else, I was figuring out as I did the film.

From the trailer, much like your previous script Thaneer Mathan Dinangal, the supporting characters have a huge role to play in the story. How do you go about creating that world and its characters?

There are close to 20 main characters in the film. Even a passer-by who appears in just two scenes is an important part of the movie. For me, supporting characters are also pivotal to how you tell the story. During the scripting process, I try to bring in something new. In most movies, people focus on telling only the main thread revolving around the protagonists. I, however, try to weave in people in the background into that story and use their inputs to take it forward. When you give importance to such characters, the world becomes bigger. This is what I have learnt.

It makes sense because during the pandemic, a lot of people had watched Thaneer Mathan Dinangal again and it still managed to stay fresh every time.

It helps in the repeat watch or at least that’s what I think. For instance, when people are watching Pathrosinte Padappukal for the first time, they might just focus on my character. The second time, they would see it for Sharafudheen and would discover new things. Thaneer Mathan Dinangal is a perfect example of that because there are people who watched it first to follow Mathew’s arc and then they tracked the journey of my character Joyson.

How different is your role in Pathrosinte Padappukal compared to Joyson?

Joyson was more of an isolated, moody person, who lent a dark humour to the story. In this movie, my character required a lot of overacting. It leans more towards the old Dileep-style films. Pathrosinte Padappukal is an eccentric comedy such as Pulival Kalyanam and Pattanapravesham that have been missing in Malayalam for some time now. I don’t know if you can compare these to our film, but they are the closest examples.

Also, the other characters are based on people that I have met in real life or have observed. Obviously, there are certain roles that we created just for the film, like the grandmother in Pathrosinte Padappukal. We have added quirks to her behaviour that haven't been shown in any prior films; those are aspects you can only do in movies.

Sharafikka’s role is again based on people that we have seen; the intellectual type who are chasing freedom and meaning in life.

How much did Sharafudheen and Grace Antony’s casting help increase the reach of the film?

I am not sure. We always wanted good artistes to play those roles. We had actually approached another artiste initially to play Sharafikka’s role. It was the same for Grace’s role, which is more of a guest role. We needed popular actors to play both these characters. I also want actors to play roles that they haven’t done before. Usually, we cast actors who are proficient in doing comedy for such characters. I try to change that.

You also had plans to direct a few before the pandemic. What’s the status of that?

I was initially planning to direct a film. But I have only scripted and acted in it. It’s titled Mejjo, which is also the name of the character I am playing. Kiran Antony is the film’s director, Jomon T John has cranked the camera and Justin Varghese is its composer. The shoot of the film is over. Lijomol and I play the leads, while Mathew Thomas also essays a pivotal character. It’s a very different film compared to Thaneer Mathan Dinangal and Pathrosinte Padappukal.

Also read: Salute: Here’s what we know of Dulquer Salmaan and Rosshan Andrrews' Sony LIV release from its latest teasers