Jayaraj: Nedumudi Venu's dialogue from Swargam Thurakunna Samayam is pertinent and haunting now

It should come as no surprise that those who have worked with Nedumudi Venu choose to collaborate with him again and again. Director Jayaraj, whose debut movie Vidyarambham starred the veteran actor who passed away today due to post COVID complications in Thiruvananthapuram, recently shot with him for a segment in the upcoming Netflix anthology based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s short stories.

Talking to OTTplay, about the experience of collaborating for the last time, Jayaraj says, “We worked together for MT Vasudevan Nair’s Swargam Thurakunna Samayam. We had talked after the background score of the movie was over. I had praised him for his beautiful and poignant performance. It’s a huge coincidence because he played a patient named Madhavan mash in the movie.”

The acclaimed filmmaker, who had also worked with Venu in Thilakam, says that he finds a particular dialogue in the film “pertinent”. “The film is about the ailing Madhavan mash’s children coming to visit him. They wait, and at the end, he is out of danger. He then says, ‘From now on, don’t tell anyone when I am sick and on my deathbed. Do it only when you ensure that I am dead’. Considering his demise, that line and scene is haunting,” he says.

The movie, which also has Renji Panicker, Indrans, Surabhi Lakshmi and Kailash, had completed shooting a month ago, and was one of Venu’s final movies. His last movie was Ente Mazha, which was shot in Thiruvananthapuram. “Most actors you can replace, but rarely there are irreplaceable losses. This is one such instance,” concludes Jayaraj.

Also read: Priyadarshan: After watching Nedumudi Venu’s performance in Chithram, Ilaiyaraaja said ‘he is magical’