Tovino Thomas on Identity: ‘You can’t make a movie undermining audience’s intelligence, especially when...’

Malayalam star Tovino Thomas’ Identity kicked off 2025 for Malayalam cinema. It literally established the heights that the industry can go, when good content and vision get the backing of producers. The film, which also stars Trisha Krishnan and Vinay Rai, once again reinforces the belief that Tovino Thomas-starrers will always have something new for the audience to experience in theatres.

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, the Minnal Murali and Thallumaala star talks about working with Identity directors Anas Khan and Akhil Paul, the challenges of making the film and why it’s necessary to respect the sensibilities and intelligence of today’s audience.

When Akhil and Anas pitched you the script of Identity, what made you believe that this was possible to do within the constraints of the budget that Malayalam has operated in so far?

My only doubt was whether I could pull off my character, convincingly. I was confident that they would be able to mount and execute this project. I have seen what they went through, trying to get Forensic made. It never got the usual pre-production time that a film does, and yet they completed it because that’s the kind of people they are; they are fully committed. Irrespective of the fate of the film, I have absolutely no regret working with them because they are people who put in effort and that was my confidence in the film too.

Also read: Identity movie review: Tovino Thomas and Trisha’s pulsating, twist-laden thriller sets the bar high 

When they narrated the story to me, I asked them, ‘If we do all this, will the audience be convinced?’ I have said this earlier too, I am able to do diverse characters only because my directors have more confidence in me than I have in myself. I was tense at various junctures. It's to their credit that they were able to make someone like me, who was born and brought up in Irinjalakuda, convincingly portray the role of Haran, who has his own set of strengths and a completely different personality.

Your portrayal of Haran in the film didn’t need to be heroic – for the majority of the film. You needed his character to be discreet in a sense, so that the revelation of who he is, packed a punch. As an actor, what were your inputs to define Haran’s personality, without making it too plain?

The reason we had him as someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was to hide the ultimate reveal. I am someone who has interacted with a lot of people in the same profession as Haran; I don’t want to let out the profession because that would be a spoiler. What I can say is that they are people who don’t have the same set of emotions or vulnerabilities as the rest of us.

Playing this character in a specific way was tough. For instance, you can’t portray ‘swag’ without really moving your arms. I am talking about my process. The reason my character walks like a robot is because of his OCD, the restrictions in his profession as well as the trauma he suffered in his childhood. Maybe when he used to swing his arms, his father would have berated him. That’s how his character is formed.

There are a lot of similarities in your character as well as Vinay Rai’s, except for the intentions. How much did working together evolve both your characters because both the hero and the villain aren’t the over-the-top kind that we are used to seeing?

Vinay Rai is an extremely intelligent actor. He is an encyclopedia of cinema. I now take movie recommendations from him, especially of films from Hollywood’s golden era. He remembers each scene and performance vividly; he is someone who voraciously watches movies, documentaries and series.

Also read: Tovino Thomas, Biju Menon in NTR Jr, Prashanth Neel’s big budget film? 

He told me that he prefers to work like how we do in Malayalam cinema, as in where it’s more collaborative. We had so many discussions, the film needed our characters to be similar in various junctures – especially the portion where Trisha’s character gets confused between us. So, we had to follow the same meter.

Identity is not a flat film to watch; it has got its set of complexities, and it respects the viewers’ intelligence. Be it Kala, Naradan or Ajayante Randam Moshanam, your films haven’t undermined the audience. Does that come from your perspective as an artiste who wants to make smart films or as an audience member who doesn't want things to be dumbed down?

I sometimes think of what cinema is. It’s not about box office collections, it’s not something where a director and his team get to showcase all their skills for their self-indulgent happiness, nor is it entirely about creating art for art’s sake. It’s a combination of all these, but primarily, it should entertain the audience.

Now, at a time when our viewers are regularly watching international cinema, you can’t make a movie, undermining their intelligence. Today, the 200 movies that I can watch or the books that I read are accessible to everyone else in the world. So, there’s no chance you can take that for granted.

Cinema influences our way of thinking and lifestyle; you can’t deny that. So, by entertainment, I don’t just mean having a great time at the theatres, it should also make us introspect.

So, you will always back intelligent films and you would always bat for content for evolved audiences?

If the tastes and sensibilities of our audiences are evolving, I would have no reason to be disappointed. Only my bad films won’t work, and I won’t be sulking over that. If a bad film doesn’t work, I won’t blame the audience. But when a good movie like Guppy, for instance, doesn’t, that’s a different case. People should give good movies a chance, they should try and watch them.