PremiumRaj B Shetty: Toby is our experiment to present a hero who does not speak
The Malayalam version of Toby is releasing in theatres on September 22. Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films is presenting it
Last Updated: 05.48 PM, Sep 20, 2023
Raj B Shetty never once let slip the fact that he was playing a speech-impaired character in Toby during the promotions of the film, when he was set to release the Kannada original version in August. There were rumours that he doesn’t speak that came up after the trailer, as he doesn’t utter a word, and instead produces a guttural cry in one sequence and uses the sign language for a house in another. Raj didn’t deny or confirm this, and when the film came out, within minutes it became public knowledge that Toby was indeed a protagonist who doesn’t speak.
In the film, Raj’s character loses his voice after his vocal chords are shattered following a thrashing he gets as a child. But as a person growing up in an orphanage in small-town Kumta, he does not have much of a formal education or, for that matter, learns sign language. Yet, in his own way, he develops a way to communicate with those around him. This was an aspect about the character that fascinated Raj, when he began writing a story about Toby, based on a short story by Kannada writer-filmmaker TK Dayanand.
Read also: Raj B Shetty on Toby: My intention was always to make a good film; not just a good Kannada film
With the film now set for release in a Malayalam dubbed version, Raj has begun embracing this aspect of the story as one of its major highlights and how the challenge of expressing emotions with facial gestures, sounds and body language appealed to him and his team and became their experiment in presenting a hero who does not speak. Speech-impaired people, he reckons, tend to be loud in their own way, like for instance, in their body language. In an industry that oft thrives on larger-than-life protagonists spouting bombastic punchlines, Toby is a man from the lower levels of society, who enjoys a tipple and cherishes his bond with his daughter Jenny.
Toby, directed by Raj’s long-time associate Basil Alchalakkal, has music by Rorschach-fame Midhun Mukundan and cinematograph y by Pravin Shriyan. The film also stars Chaithra J Achar, Samyukta Hornad, Gopalkrishna Deshpande, Yogi Bankeshwar, Raj Deepak Shetty, Bharath GB and Sandhya Arekere, among others. It will be in theatres across Kerala on September 22.