Exclusive! Aanandham Paramaanandham’s Shafi: Comedies are rare now as it’s hard to add humour to realistic films

Mollywood director Shafi’s name is synonymous to some of the best slapstick comedies in the industry, including Kalyanaraman, Pulival Kalyanam, Mayavi and Two Countries. After a break of three years, the filmmaker is set to return to his forte, albeit with a comedy sans the louder elements, with Aanandham Paramaanandham.

On the movie, which is scripted by M Sindhuraj, the director tells OTTPlay, “The story of this film was my main attraction to do it. It’s a small film compared to the ones I have done so far. It doesn’t have the loud comedy or drama that are usually associated with my films; this is more of a light-hearted tale. I felt there was something novel in the story when I first heard it.”

The film has Indrans and Sharafudheen essaying its main characters - Kurup and a Gulf-returnee Gireesh PP, respectively. “They are father-in-law and son-in-law. Both of them are alcoholics and though there are scenes that involve alcohol, there’s also a social message that we are trying to deliver with the movie,” says Shafi.

The filmmaker also says that he and Sindhuraj were initially supposed to team up almost 12 years ago. “A producer had even paid him advance to write a script for me. We had been discussing several subjects, but this was one we finally agreed on. I thought it would click with the viewers because it not only has humour, it also has emotional elements that would appeal to the family audience and can be a film that people can watch with ease,” he says.

Considering that the audience and the industry now have preference to rooted-to-reality films, where does Aanandham Paramaanandham fit in? “This isn’t a very rooted or a realistic film; even though I have toned it down, it’s still my movie,” says Shafi.

The director, however, admits he now also thinks of these factors while choosing a movie to work on. “But to make an organic and realistic film is never easy. It’s a challenging task. Especially when you try to also add humour to them. That’s one of the reasons the number of comedy films have come down in our industry,” he says.

Aanandham Paramaanandham, which also has Anagha, Aju Varghese and Baiju, will hit theatres on December 23.