A major complaint from a lot of producers and fans when Malayalam star Tovino Thomas’ Minnal Murali released directly on Netflix, instead of opting for a theatrical release, was how its team had missed a great chance to score a blockbuster. Even when Tovino’s 2018: Everyone Is A Hero crossed the Rs 100 crore milestone and went on the highest grossing Malayalam film of all time, till Manjummel Boys broke that record in a year, the audience said that it was a multi-hero film. But Tovino seems to have had the last laugh – with his latest film Ajayante Randam Moshanam, crossing Rs 100 crore  in worldwide box office earnings.

The movie, which is helmed by Jithin Laal and has the actor in triple roles, is still running in a select few theatres in Kerala. But it’s safe to say that the movie’s OTT release is impending and could happen in the next few weeks.

For a lot of viewers, what truly worked in the film’s favour was the ability of its team to truly transport the audience to the world of Chiyothikavu and that too through a story set in three time periods.

Tovino Thomas on the importance of Ajayante Randam Moshanam’s setting

Tovino tells OTTplay that this was also his biggest challenge as an actor, to make people believe in the story and the world, before connecting with his three characters – Kunjikelu, Maniyan and Ajayan. “Ajayante Randam Moshanam is set in a village called Chiyothikavu, which was earlier named Haripuram. The film starts when a meteor crashes down at this place. In this film, we don’t explore the world outside Chiyothikavu at all. There’s a world that we have created with CGI and once we draw the audience in to this place, we tell a story that they can believe,” he says.

On how the writer and director of the film convinced the audience with a fantastical story by through rooted narration, he says, “I was born and brought up in Irinjalakuda, but that doesn’t mean I am aware of all the heroes and warriors who had been there 200 years ago. There would be stories about them, that would have been passed down for generations. The world would have been different back then and because we are limited in our knowledge of how things were, it becomes easier for us to imagine if there are certain larger-than-life elements.”

Tovino explains his major challenge from Ajayante Randam Moshanam

Tovino also explains that as an actor, “my challenge was to ensure that these aspects came through while also trying to maintain that the story was unfolding in an era that was more relatable to the audience”. “That’s also the reason that I had trained in kalaripayattu because it was important for me to bring about the changes in the body posture of each of the characters I played in Ajayante Randam Moshanam,” he says.

If the body language of a character is different, each of the fight sequence – even if they are performed by the same actor – would appear different, he explains. “If you have noticed, someone with a God-like aura (Kunjikelu) fights, he might not even blink. But Maniyan is more animalistic, in terms of his posture and fights, but Ajayan is someone who fights because he has no other choice; he does it for survival. And yet all three of them are trained in kalaripayattu,” Tovino tells us.

Ask him if fantasies and fables would now find a better audience than the reality-based films that have appealed more to the Malayalam audience and he says, “The base theme of what we wanted to show through Ajayante Randam Moshanam is that so much has happened in this world that we might not know about. The ending of this film is set only in 1994-95. So, even if something happened then, it would again be limited to only that place. It wouldn’t travel outside; so, there’s so many immense possibilities.”

Tovino Thomas spills beans on Ajayante Randam Moshanam sequel plans

With Ajayante Randam Moshanam ending with a shot of Maniyan and temple at Chiyothikavu projecting a beacon into the skies, is it also a sign of future instalments to come from the ARM franchise? “When we began, we never thought of its sequel; we had its beginning and end in mind. But during the shoot as well as the post-production, we did improvise. And that’s also because we travelled with this film for so many years. This film has so many possibilities, and we have several ideas and a thin line of plot that we want to pursue; but it won’t be a sequel to Ajayante Randam Moshanam, but a spin-off. This story is contained.”

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