Exclusive! Puzhu director Ratheena: We haven’t tried to whitewash Mammootty’s negative character in any way

While a Mammootty-starrer is expected to come with a certain amount of expectations and hype, what has truly got fans excited about the megastar’s upcoming release Puzhu is that he will be seen in a full-length negative role. He hasn’t done such a role in the recent past and that’s a key reason the audience is looking forward to the Ratheena PT directorial, which will drop on Sony LIV on May 13.

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, Ratheena opened up about the megastar’s character. She said that when the film’s co-scriptwriter Harshad had initially pitched the idea to Mammootty, his response was that “it will have a lot of scope to perform, right?”

Usually when a star is playing a negative character, there has been a tendency to justify his actions. Does Puzhu too follow that to a certain level? “Never,” says Ratheena. “In movies of the past, we try to justify a negative character by blaming his circumstances. I believe it’s because we have watched so many such films that we have been conditioned to think of all that. Otherwise, a person could be evil because he’s a born criminal or he has those inherent negative traits; there are so many reasons in real life why a person is a certain way.”

The filmmaker, who is making her debut with the crime thriller, says that the movie’s writers Harshad, Suhas and Sharfu have stayed away from this storytelling technique. “We don’t have to justify a villain in every film. For Puzhu, I can assure you that we haven’t even thought of whitewashing Mammukka’s character,” she says.

The movie, which also has Parvathy Thiruvothu, marks Mammootty’s first ever direct-to-OTT release. Puzhu is co-produced by Dulquer Salmaan, who also made his OTT debut through Sony LIV’s Salute in March this year.

Read the entire interview: Exclusive! Puzhu director Ratheena: When Mammootty has given me space, I want to ensure I use it the best way