Mahesh Narayanan, who impressed fans with his maiden directorial venture Take Off, says his latest release CU Soon was planned as a short but ended up being a made as a feature film. In an interview with DH's Roktim Rajpal, he adds that he is happy about the rise of the digital medium as it has encouraged filmmakers to make films for a pan-India audience.
(Excerpts from the interview)
How do you feel about the positive response to CU Soon?
I was not expecting this type of feedback for my work. We did this film as an experimental project. We were expecting it to be truthful to our hearts and communicate (with the audience).
How was the experience of shooting the film during the lockdown?
Once the 'Janta Curfew' happened we assembled under one roof and hired apartments in the same complex. It was more like a 14-day quarantine period. It took us around one and a half months to complete the project.
Was the film shot on an iPhone, as many have claimed?
This has been shot using multiple devices and not just the phone alone. The computer scenes were for example shot with Panasonic.
How did CU Soon materialise?
It started with a video clip that was shared with me a long time ago. It was morbid and haunting and stayed with us. We moved in different directions and I got busy with Maalik, which was supposed to ht screens in April. However, the lockdown happened and we were not certain about what would happen in the coming years
Fahadh asked me about the video and we decided to make something out of it. It started out as an idea for a short (film) but ended up as a feature.
How did you manage to coordinate with the actors?
I was with them during the shoot so it was like the conventional experience. We were there to give them instructions and feedback. However, the main thing was to get the actors to complete each scene (effectively).
You wrote the script of CU Soon in just over the week.
I most probably had a seamless flow in my mind. The first draft was ready in a week. Moreover, there were contraints due to the lockdown and i did not want o miss out on any opportunity.
How did you get interested in filmmaking?
I worked as an editor in films and come from a film school background. I decided to take up filmmaking after working as an editor of several projects and reaching a saturation point.
Did your experience as a filmmaker come in handy while working as a filmmaker?
It came in handy. However, I not look at the transition as a promotion of sorts. My film editing skills came in handy in CU Soon as I was used to multiple windows.
Do you feel Malayalam cinema is slowly moving towards making pan-India content?
Whenever we make content for the OTT space, it automatically has a pan-India touch. We don't need conventional songs or other things for the adrenaline rush. In my case, however, even Take Off was well-received at a pan-India level.