INTERVIEW | Sharan Venugopal: The response to ‘Narayaneente Moonaanmakkal’ is validation after the occasional self-doubt

The first time I spoke to Sharan Venugopal was before the release of Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal. We talk about how he comes from a family of bankers, his childhood in Koyilandy, studying engineering in Thiruvananthapuram and cinema at the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, his National Award-winning short film, Oru Paathira Swapnam Poley and how he cannot reveal much about his debut feature film. And he confesses to being as nervous about his first release as any debutant director would be.  “There is really not much I can say about the film before the release!” he says. We decided to speak again after the release.

When we get on a call, a couple of days after the release, Sharan sounds happy. Most of the apprehensions of a newbie director are gone. And with good reason. Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal has met with rave reviews and everyone who has seen the film is all praise for his maiden effort. The script is also by him.

The movie is about three brothers who meet after ages as their mother is on her deathbed. It is an uneasy kind of waiting, for the inevitable. In the meantime new wounds are inflicted while the old ones fester, the relationship between siblings suggests a fragility and a vulnerability. Grudges linger under the surface. Alencier Lopez, Joju George and Suraj Venjaramoodu are the brothers, Vishwanathan, Sethu and Bhaskar, who drive the plot. 

There is plenty in the film that Sharan, as the writer, could have gone overboard with but, as a critic said, he shows restraint. It is a mature telling of a story that is relatable as are the well-etched characters.

You know and understand where each is coming from but, as a viewer, you are not forced to judge or take sides. Not when the brothers fight — over ideology or the division of wealth nor when they contemplate putting their mother out of her misery. Their motives are not lofty, they are in fact, sometimes, petty. The brothers’ children meet each other for the first time, we see their journey of self-discovery with growing pains. They unwittingly fan the simmering flames. 

To ‘do you know such people?’, Sharan says, “yes, I know people like these and I have heard of people like this.”

What of the restraint and maturity that shows in the handling of the subject? “That (restraint) was there in the film right from the start. It is perhaps the language of my films, even the smaller ones that I have made over the years. And what you are, perhaps, shows in your films,” says the 32-year-old with all honesty. The decision to turn filmmaker was not epiphanic for him, it was born out of a love of films which grew during his stint at engineering college given the vibrant cinema culture in Thiruvananthapuram, especially with the IFFK. 

Sharan Venugopal at work
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He had a pool of acting talent to work with in this film — Sajitha Madathil, Suraj, Joju, Alencier and of course, newcomer Garggi Ananthan… it is a dream cast. “These actors were my first choice. While I was writing, these faces came to mind. When I completed the script, I approached the actors who I thought to be the best fit for the characters and they agreed. For example, Joju chettan just heard the synopsis and he was in.” Garggi was part of Oru Paathira Swapnam Poley, which was chosen the Best Film on Family Values at the 67th National Film Awards. 

Did he feel pressure, as a debutant, directing actors of this range of experience? “No, I did not. I had clarity about what I wanted from them and they gave me that.” Sharan speaks of how some of the scenes were shot in a single take. 

“Sethu’s (Joju George) monologue, for example. Joju chettan said he would do it in a single take. We were not sure how it would pan out but we gave it a shot…he did it in a single take without a break.” This is the scene when the conflict comes to a head; Sethu, the middle brother, sick of his bickering brothers, asks them to leave. 

Of what came first — the story or the characters — he says, “It was the space/place, rather. I spent my childhood in Koyilandy. I felt a connection with the place, a certain nostalgia for the people and the milieu. I then placed the characters there. The drama then evolved, it was an organic process.” The temple and the temple festival, the pond, the huge ancestral house with its many rooms, a family converging for an occasion and the camaraderie of people meeting for the first time or the undercurrents of old relations — Sharan has captured all this with remarkable maturity.    

Suraj Venjaramoodu, Alencier Lopez and Joju George in scene from the film

He started writing 2019, completed it in 2021 and started pitching it to producers. By 2024 post production was done. In between the producers of the film changed. The producers, Goodwill Films, had another release Kishkinda Kaandam, Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal was scheduled for release after that.   

He had a bound script ready, a rarity in these times of one-line pitch or logline. Sharan approached each technician with it, “Appu Prabhakar, the director of photography of the film, who is also a friend, commented that ‘it has been a while since one has seen a bound script’.” He calls cinema a collaborative art, where it is hard to quantify the give and take between the technicians. Any success could be credited to how the script is communicated to the collaborative departments — be it the actors or the technicians.  

He is soaking in the response to the film. Happy that it resonated with the people. That people felt a connection with it is a source of immense personal satisfaction for him. “This is why I started doing what I do. It is not an easy process — making a film. People acknowledged that ‘getting a film like this to the theatres is not easy’. The production house has been supportive. It (making the film) was a challenging, difficult and long process with self doubt…but the response to it has been validation for me!”

It is too soon to talk about his next, but hypothetically what kind of a film would it be? “I want to do something that is completely different from this one.”  

Narayaneente Moonaannmakkal is playing in theatres