Exclusive! Tovino Thomas: I pushed my limits to the maximum for Thallumaala's fight and dance sequences

“Eight fight scenes and eight songs” – that was the first hint that the makers of Thallumaala had revealed about the movie, even before the much-celebrated song and trailer of the Tovino Thomas and Kalyani Priyadarshan-starrer. And true to those words, those were the most challenging aspects for Tovino too in Khalid Rahman’s directorial.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, the actor, who plays Manavalan Waseem in the film scripted by Muhsin Parari and Ashraf Hamza, says, “Thallumaala will probably have one of my best performances. It’s an out-and-out entertainer. But if you look at the previous films of the director and scriptwriters of this film, you would understand that they would never compromise on the quality even if it’s an all-out commercial movie.”

Khalid had helmed films such as Unda, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam and Love, while Muhsin Parari had scripted movies including Virus and Sudani from Nigeria, and Ashraf Hamza had directed Thamaasha and Bheemante Vazhi.

Also read: Exclusive! Tovino Thomas: Being an ardent Vaikom Muhammed Basheer fan, it’s a blessing to work in Neelavelicham

“So, I had to just turn up and surrender to their vision,” says Tovino. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t have even attempted dancing. For another film, I would have thought if the movie required dance but Thallumaala needed that and people would understand why when they watch the film and the way the story has been told.”

The actor says that “shooting for the movie was hectic and exhausting”. “I have pushed my limits to the maximum for this film with the fight sequences. But learning the dance was tougher,” he says. “On days of dance practice, it was almost like going to school on the day of the exams; ‘I have learnt everything and I hope I could write all that’. But I have said this earlier too, if a movie requires dance, I would learn and do it.”

Tovino explains that despite putting in so much pain and effort, he has “absolutely no qualms” about Thallumaala that will hit theatres on August 12. “I believe people will welcome it with open arms. The technical side of the film – be it it’s editing, the VFX or the scene transition – are all sort of weaved in beautifully. The makers have put in years of homework even for the minute details in the film and I believe that would make for a novel experience for the audience in theatres,” concludes the actor, who has completed shooting for Aashiq Abu’s Neelavelicham.