Rajamouli & Lokesh Kanagaraj will also face this tomorrow: Priyadarshan on the burden of expectations | Exclusive

There’s probably no other filmmaker in Malayalam who has tasted the highs and lows of success as director Priyadarshan. While the director’s magnum opus Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham didn’t quite create the waves it was expected at the box office in 2021, the filmmaker is now all set for the release of Corona Papers – “a small thriller” – as he calls it.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, the filmmaker reveals his reason for opting to do a thriller with a star cast largely comprising actors, whom he has never worked with; that too at a time when he could have roped in any big star in the industry.

Also read: Exclusive! Kalyani Priyadarshan: I couldn't relate to Thallumaala's Beepathu but I’m glad the makers saw me in the role 

“Expectation is the worst byproduct a filmmaker has to tackle after he becomes successful,” says the filmmaker. “This is something that even SS Rajamouli and Lokesh Kanagaraj will face tomorrow. People always expect more. So, the first challenge is to kill expectations and I thought this was a good way to go about it.”

Corona Papers, which is set to hit theatres on April 6, has Shane Nigam, Shine Tom Chacko, Gayathrie Shankar and Sandhya Shetty in pivotal characters. Only Siddique had previously worked with the filmmaker. “My film will look different when new people are part of it; else my thought process and my way of conceiving the shots would feel similar. That’s why I decided to cast young talent,” says Priyadarshan, who is also co-producing the film. His previous production venture was Kanchivaram in 2008.

Also read: Exclusive! Mohanlal: If Marakkar was a ‘mass’ film, it wouldn’t have won National Awards 

Ask him if Marakkar’s failure too had a bearing on these decisions and the veteran filmmaker says, “This has nothing to do with Marakkar. I have been part of so many releases in my life. I don’t look back once I make a film. I don’t know why people are associating my decisions now with Marakkar; when Kaalapani released, they were talking about that film (not working) and now Kaalapani is a cult movie. Once a movie is done, it’s over; you move on to the next project. Nobody can predict whether their next project will be hit.”

The director also explained that success and failure no longer affect him. “For the past 42 years, I have been part of 96 movies. There were ups and downs. When you face failure, you try to score a success again. This is something that I have been used to; so, all these don’t affect me,” he concludes.