Pranaya Vilasam OTT release: Hakkim Shahjahan maturely portrayed his character’s older portions, says director

While Malayalam actor Hakkim Shahjahan was seen in a slew of films including Archana 31 Not Out, Dear Friend and The Teacher post his critically acclaimed Kadaseela Biriyani, it’s his performance in debutant Nikhil Muraly’s Pranaya Vilasam that once again got him noticed.

Hakkim arguably stole the spotlight from the film’s other talented cast members such as Arjun Ashokan, Anaswara Rajan and Manoj KU – as it offered him a chance to portray two varied phases in his character’s life.

Also read: Pranaya Vilasam on OTT: Women appreciated it the most as they believed it had a feminist take, says Nikhil Muraly 

“Hakkim was able to play both phases extremely well,” its director Nikhil tells OTTplay. “He maturely portrayed the older portions of his character, way better than what we had expected from an actor of his age. All of that was a bonus for us.”

The filmmaker also says that most of the responses the team got after its theatrical release in February was about the performances in the movie. “The best feedback we got for this film was about its actors – be it Arjun, Sreedhanya, Manoj, Anaswara or Hakkim. People loved their performances and the movie essentially became a performance-oriented film when it hit theatres,” he says.

Also read: Pranaya Vilasam review: A few poignant moments keep this Arjun Ashokan, Anaswara Rajan-starrer afloat 

Ask him if there was disappointment among the younger audience to not see all three Super Sharanya actors share screen space in the movie and Nikhil says, “We have always maintained that this wasn’t a film like Super Sharanya. The only similarity was that all three of them were coincidentally part of the movie.”

Another grouse, a small section of the audience had, was that the arc comprising Manoj KU and Miya’s character didn’t have closure. “It was done deliberately. Those two characters still had a life in front of them. However, if you notice their conversations in the film, we have tried to say that what happened between them earlier was still present when they met again. That’s why Miya’s character says, ‘Your old ego is still a part of you.’ So, that layer of why they weren’t together is intact,” he explains.

Pranaya Vilasam, which explores different types of romance, is set to drop on ZEE5 on April 14. The movie will also be available to stream on OTTplay Premium.