Among the filmmakers chosen to helm the various segments in MT Vasudevan Nair’s anthology Manorathangal, director Rathish Ambat would seem like an inspired choice. Prior to the segment Kadalkkattu from the anthology, he had helmed only two feature films - Kammara Sambhavam and Theerppu, and that’s why the call to be part of this project was a huge surprise even for him.

In a chat with OTTplay, Rathish talks about his segment, which has Indrajith Sukumaran, Aparna Balamurali and Ann Augustine in the lead, the challenges he faced while directing the film and why it wasn’t a dream for him to helm an MT script.

Apart from (MT Vasudevan Nair’s daughter) Aswathy Nair, you and Mahesh Narayanan are the only other filmmakers who had made their debut in the last decade to work on this anthology. When you were approached, did they give you a reason?

Not really. I got a call from Aswathy and (executive producer) Sudhir Ambalappad during the pandemic lockdown, explaining that they had a plan to do an anthology with five senior directors and four from the later generation. They asked me if I was interested, and I said yes. There wasn’t any conversation for a long time after that, but they got back and asked me to meet MT sir. That’s when I was assigned Kadalkkattu as my segment.

None of the filmmakers in the anthology had helmed MT’s script before, but a few of them, especially the senior directors like Jayaraj and Santosh Sivan, had worked with him. They would have had that freedom to suggest changes in his script and also improvise. Was that the same for you as well, especially when the challenge was to adapt a story set in a distant era to this format and make it appealing to today’s audience?

Surprisingly, there was enough space for us to discuss and suggest changes that we thought were suitable. Initially, my discussions were with Aswathy, who then had asked me to travel to Kozhikode and meet MT sir. We had two meetings.

Kadalkkattu is set in the 70s, but it talks about an issue that is still prevalent. While approaching this film, I just went with MT sir’s script; I didn’t try and favour any gimmicks. There’s a certain pleasure that you get while reading a good story and I have tried to bring that flow through moments in artistes’ performances in the film.

Doesn’t that become tougher when you are adapting an emotional drama and that too in this duration of just 40 minutes?

The challenge was that Kadalkkattu is a short story and though it had three characters, it mostly dealt with Keshavan’s (played by Indrajith) mindscapes. It deals with the various bonds within his family as well as the emotional ones. I have tried to explore it as much as it was possible for me.

When it was turned into a script, there’s a limit to how much you can visualise a person’s thoughts and psychological burden. Also, after watching the final film, MT sir didn’t say anything; he is not someone who talks a lot, he just smiled.

Indrajith, who plays Keshavan, had previously acted in Ezhamathe Varavu, which was scripted by MT. Did that experience of having already worked in an MT film lead to his casting?

Aswathy had initially suggested Indrajith’s name. I also thought he was an apt choice. I could easily relate to the milieu and setting of Kadalkkattu because I have seen such characters like Keshavan during my younger years. Plus, these characters are familiar to those who have read MT’s works. Similarly, Ann and Aparna suited their characters and their performances add a lot of value in uplifting this tale.

All the senior filmmakers who are part of Manorathangal said it was a dream to direct a script written by MT Vasudevan Nair. Do you share the same sentiment?

Honestly, it wasn’t a dream for me to direct an MT script. It’s not because I didn’t want to but because I didn’t think it was possible. Till this opportunity came my way, I didn’t know whether he would write another script, and even if he did, chances were slim that he would pick me to direct one of them. There were so many filmmakers including Priyan sir and Shyamaprasad who were actively trying to get MT sir to write a script for them, and that too for several years. 

So, I didn’t think I could ever approach him and didn’t have the confidence to ask him to write a script for me. But when I got this opportunity, I put in my best efforts.

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