Shaji Kailas on ‘Red Chillies’ failure; it is said that Mohanlal’s bigger role changed the script; ‘We just asked for his words’ | Malayalam Movie News
Veteran filmmaker Shaji Kailas looks back on the making of ‘Red Chillies’ and shares why he believes the 2009 drama failed to connect with people. Although the film was very good before its release, the film did not perform as expected at the box office.Speaking in an interview with Club FM recently, the director revealed that the original concept of ‘Red Chillies’ was very different from what was seen in the end. According to him, the show took a big turn when Mohanlal was found to have a long shooting time.Shaji Kailas admitted that the last-minute changes changed the plot of the story and ultimately affected the direction of the film.
The team asked Mohanlal’s voice only
Explaining how the project evolved, Shaji Kailas revealed that Mohanlal’s character, OMR, was designed to have a small part that was only heard during phone conversations.Recalling the incident, the director said, “OMR was originally a person who was supposed to appear for two days only. In fact, he was supposed to be there only for phone conversations. That’s how we started Lal. We just asked for his voice. But Lal said, ‘No, I’ll come alone. Let’s do it.’Even then, we told him that two days would be enough. Around that time, one of its branches in China was suspended. Then he told us, ‘I’m free now.’An unexpected change in Mohanlal’s schedule gave the filmmakers an opportunity to expand his role, but it also led to a major change in the screenplay.
How the story changed during production
Shaji Kailas explained that Mohanlal ended up spending nine days on the project instead of the initial commitment of two days.He said, “I immediately told Sajan. We somehow managed to expand and we ended up shooting with him for nine days. We went to him to ask for his voice only, but instead, he stayed with us for nine days. Naturally, the character had to change. By doing this, we broke the true basis of the story. Since we had him for nine days, we expanded his role. This meant that several other parts of the film we had to cut.”According to the director, the show had to be rescheduled urgently to make full use of Mohanlal’s unexpected presence.
Shaji Kailas says rewriting hurts the film
The director admitted that expanding Mohanlal’s role made him write faster, which affected the finale.He added, “We had to use his presence because he had given us those days. So we added a lot of Lal’s scenes. The scenes were written quickly, and that affected the entire film.”‘Red Chillies’, released in 2009, featured Mohanlal in the lead role and was set on a grand scale. However, despite high expectations, it failed to meet the sales expectations of many.Meanwhile, Shaji Kailas’ latest venture, ‘Varavu’, has been released in theatres. The film stars Joju George in the main role.
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