Those who know Marco director Haneef Adeni would be quick to say that he’s a reticent man of few words. However, that’s contrary to what you see on screen through his directorials, especially his latest hit Marco that has Unni Mukundan in the lead and is on a box-office rampage across the country. 

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, the filmmaker opens about the success of Marco, what went into the creating its brutal action sequences and more.

Did you expect that Marco would receive such a reception across the country, when you set out to make this action film?

Marco wasn’t made with the idea that it should be accepted by audiences in all languages. We knew we were going to make a Malayalam movie and we needed to do complete justice to that. That was the only thought. We didn’t set out to make a ‘pan-Indian’ film.

Everyone is paying attention to Malayalam cinema now. So, how we tried to push the envelope is by making an action film, the best possible way we can. We knew if we could accomplish that, it could work with the other-language audiences as well.

If you ask me, ‘Would such a story happen in real life?’ It might not. But we have tried to somehow make it convincing, especially for people who look for logic in such movies. For instance, the movie starts with a police investigation; we give that arc an end, before we move to a place where there are no police. In other big action movies, they create an entirely new world to set the story. We couldn’t do that for this film. So, instead we had to find an alternative, where we could take the audience from reality to the world of Marco, without much distortion.

Actors and technicians often say that doing actions scenes are usually the most exciting. Marco has plenty of them, and each different from the other.

When you have action scenes in a film, what you need most for it to be convincing is an actor who can pull it off. I believe in Malayalam, Unni is probably the best actor to do action sequences . You need a certain kind of dedication – be it transforming his body or putting himself through the grind for the long haul. During the shoot, there were times when Unni had starved and cut water for 36 hours. These were for scenes where he had to fight. I never thought someone could dedicate himself for that long.

Also, the technical team that we had on board played a huge role. As directors, we have a vision of how an action sequence should be. From finding the suitable location, picking the right stunt choreographer to creating the right situation in the movie, all of these should align for it to appear as a standout sequence in the film. We had a great team for Marco; a lot of them were newcomers including the art director, cinematographer and VFX team. I knew what each of them were capable of, and I was able to get their best work for this movie. I think it also helped that the film’s producer, Shareef Muhammed, gave me the freedom to assemble the team that I wanted. We had also used a scriptwriting software, Scryptl, that helped keep things smooth.

But how much time did you allocate for these sequences, before the start of the filming? It would have needed you to be involved as much as the stunt director.

My entire directorial team worked hard on these scenes. I think they had put in even more effort than (action director) Kalai Kingston master. You could have different action directors for each scene. We didn’t have that. But even if that circumstance arose, we were prepared for it because we didn’t want the action scenes to change, accordingly.

For instance, we wanted to set the interval fight scene near the woods. Similarly, the cage fight scene. We had planned all these locations without Kalai master’s input. When he arrived on sets, he gave us results which were better than our requirement. For instance, what we had in mind for the corridor fight was something else entirely. But when master arrived, the entire AD team worked with him, and that’s how the scene came out so much better.

Did you somewhere have to define Marco’s fighting style – because he is introduced with a barbaric scene?

We wanted Marco to have an intro that would push boundaries, and that’s why you have the scene where the tears open a dog’s mouth. There itself, we have established the extent to which he would go to.

The villains in the film, both Kabir Duhan Singh as well as Abhimanyu Shammi Thilakan, stand out. How did you go about the casting?

Our casting director Shaneem deserves the credit for that. He was the one who brought Kabir, Abhimanyu and even Yukti Thareja on board. I hadn’t watched any of Kabir’s movies before he was cast in Marco because none of them had released then. Even when we fixed Kalai master, I hadn’t watched his previous movies; Thalavan released after we had finalised him and it didn’t have many fight sequences either. But I realised his passion for this.

In Kabir case, we were looking at another actor first. But that didn’t work out. Right after we met him, we knew he was perfect for the role of Cyrus. He had a great screen presence.

Similarly, Abhimanyu’s physique had matched his character’s. I am not someone who would elaborately narrate a story, so, when I told him the gist, he had a sense of the character and film. After all, he is from the family of Thilakan chettan and Shammi Thilakan chettan, and has a basic understanding of cinema and film sets. So, when he came to the sets of Marco, I just had to make him behave as his character Russell .

You had said that the producer of Marco had given you the freedom to do a film that you believe in, and the result is astounding, looking at Marco’s success.

It's important to have that freedom for the best possible output. A film is always the director’s vision and when that gets disturbed, it reflects on the movie as well. If I am able to get the right kind of support from my producers, I hope to make even bigger films and fully commit to my vision.

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