There’s a line in Prithviraj and Basil-starrer ‘Guruvyaoor Amabalanadayil’ that suggests marriage is the answer to everything in life. Their latest goof-ball comedy, also starring Basil, is set against a vibrant wedding in Kerala. So when Gulf News got a chance to catch up with Prithviraj in Dubai earlier this week, we asked the happily married actor if he endorsed that punchline about marriage being a universal fix.
Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/prithviraj-on-why-marriage-is-not-the-universal-fix-to-any-problem-in-life-1.1715949152473
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Read the full story here: https://gulfnews.com/entertainment/south-indian/prithviraj-on-why-marriage-is-not-the-universal-fix-to-any-problem-in-life-1.1715949152473
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
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NewsTranscript
00:00Good evening, this is Manjusha Radhakrishnan from Gulf News, I'm the entertainment editor
00:08and today I have with me a very special celebrity and a great talent, Prithviraj, who impressed
00:14us in the movie Aadhaji Vidham, The Goat Life, but he's not here for that purpose, he's here
00:19for a much lighter film, a romantic comedy, it's great to see him break out of the dark
00:24space, I have to tell you, I'm really looking forward to your, Tandoori was a movie I thought
00:29and Bro Daddy, where you attempted a bit of comedy, so are you just happy to be in a very
00:33relaxed, you know, not traumatic phase?
00:37Well, my happiness is the same, regardless of what genre of film I'm making, you know,
00:42it's not that when I make a comic film, I get more happiness or that when I make something
00:46like Aadhaji Vidham, I get more happiness, I'm just happy being involved with the art
00:49of making cinema, but yes, it's nice to switch, be able to switch genres like this and not
00:57just for me as an actor, but I think for the industry in general, a film like this, it's
01:01been a while since something like this happened, it's almost like a throwback to the classical
01:0690s, early 2000s comedies, where you have this big cast and confusions and misunderstandings
01:11and then there is this mega climax where the entire cast of the film, they're all involved
01:17in the same sequence, I remember being on sets of this film and one day, just sitting
01:22behind the monitor and looking around and seeing almost 30-35 actors, you know, sit
01:28around in chairs and joke and laugh in this big group, I don't remember seeing that since
01:33early 2000s, it's not the camaraderie, I mean, it's just that I don't remember seeing such
01:38a big cast together in a film for the longest time, so that was very refreshing and I think
01:45the whole mood of making the film is actually rubbed off on the final product, I for one
01:50really enjoyed the film, I was missing something like this in Malayalam cinema and I hope people
01:56share that emotion, I hope people go to the theatres and watch and they also realise that
02:00they've missed something like this, right, it's a romantic comedy, it's not a romantic
02:03comedy, what is it then?
02:04It's more a comedy of errors, okay, it's like a PG Woodhouse novel where everything goes
02:09wrong, is it?
02:10Yeah, yeah, let's say Peter Sellers meeting PG Woodhouse, somewhere there, right, right
02:16and there is a dialogue in the movie that says once you're married, everything would
02:19be fine, I think that's a very classic Malayali play, that's how wrong the people in this
02:25film are, you know, so basically the film is about people who are all a little cuckoo,
02:31so that's actually put in there deliberately to tell you that's how messed up the characters
02:36in the film are.
02:37Right, right, because what's your character like, Prithviraj and I know that you've done
02:40a bit of physical comedy in this, I think, not really, there isn't any physical comedy
02:44for anyone actually, it's all situational and the comedy is more about the audience
02:52mostly knowing stuff that the characters don't, you know, you know what that does to the general,
02:56you know, aura of a film, my character and Basil's character, Anand and Vinu, to put
03:03it in a nutshell, are two very flawed men, very, very flawed in their morality, in everything
03:12and in fact, they're very weak men, which, why do you call them weak though, because
03:17they're emotionally very fragile, yeah, exactly, very fragile, so very weak men and they have
03:23all the classical chauvinistic traits of covering it up with false bravado and all that and
03:29the humour is that, you look at all that from a step away and you find it all very amusing,
03:36so that's what the film is about, in fact, the core of the plot is between these two
03:39men, something that happens between them and then the entire narrative and characters
03:45and plot points, all of that developed from that one place and it's just beautifully put
03:51together in terms of such a complex, you know, the narrative is not linear per se and it's
03:58not just these two characters, so in a way, it can get a little overwhelming when you
04:03read the script as a linear draft, but how Vipin has put it together, how he's edited
04:07the film, how he's designed a structure for the narrative is really delightful.
04:11No, what I love about Malayalam cinemas, it's never about the hero and for instance, Basil
04:16Joseph's Jai Jai Jehu, such an amazing movie, same director, same director again, the same
04:21team, is that why you put your money on it, because you saw that movie and decided, you
04:27know, they're gold, they're box office gold and talented.
04:30When I said yes to the script, this script didn't have a director associated with it,
04:36so it came to me just as a script and in fact, there was a director, it was someone
04:40else and this happened three years ago.
04:43It was in fact, the other way around, after Jai Jai Jehu, Vipin hearing the script and
04:48really liking it and reaching out to me and saying, can we explore the idea of and the
04:51biggest change Vipin brought in to the entire film is that originally the script came to
04:56me for me to be playing Basil's character and my character to be played by a more senior
05:01actor, so it was Vipin's idea that we switch that up and I play Anandhan and we cast Basil
05:06as Vinu and frankly when that happened, everything around also had to be modified, slashed, changed
05:11and I think the process sort of has made the film a lot fresher, younger, for lack of a
05:16better way to put it.
05:18It's a very unlikely pair, you and Basil, I did not see that coming.
05:22And that's what the film is about, these two men are a very unlikely pair.
05:26Really?
05:27Okay, and tell me something about Basil, do you think these are the kind of actors who
05:30have put, you know, they're saying Malayalam cinema is having a glorious phase right now,
05:35do you think actors like him has played, including you, but I think, you know, they've discovered
05:39new talents, suddenly everybody, every Malayalam actor, obscure or not.
05:44Definitely, forget Basil or me, I mean when you watch this film, you'll see a bunch of
05:47boys and girls who are all very good at what they do and they're all very confident because
05:52they come from the world of Instagram reels, you know, I was just saying the same thing
05:55last evening that these younger lot are no longer afraid of being judged because they
06:01are being judged every day, they put out three reels a day and they're reading the
06:05comments where they're being bad mouthed and they're being judged and they don't care anymore.
06:10So they come with that inherent confidence of, yeah, I mean, I could be clumsy but I
06:14don't mind.
06:15Right.
06:16And that confidence is very endearing, you know, and there's this bunch of new actors
06:19who are all very, very good in the film and Basil is, I think, one of those really blessed
06:24few who has got this inherent capability of making you like him.
06:30He does.
06:31He's the average Malayali male.
06:32I keep repeating this story, I remember speaking to Jyothika, I was at Surya's place once having
06:38dinner and we were talking about Jai Jai Jai Hai and Jyothika sort of encapsulated what
06:42Basil is as an actor so beautifully, she said, you know, the character, you look at that
06:46guy in that film and you want to punch him in the face but then you can't because it's
06:49Basil, you know, so he's got that, he's got that Sharif face, yeah, he looks like a good
06:55guy but really nasty.
06:57Exactly, so it's pretty much in the same space in a few areas in this film.
07:02Right, so you guys, you men do some obnoxious things because of your cute face, you kind
07:07of like get away with it, is that what man-children refusing to grow up?
07:11Yeah, I mean, both these people are, you know, man-child but it's just that this film is,
07:16this particular film is more than about them as men, it's also about the circumstances
07:20that they are being put through because of the people around them as well but the fact
07:25that they are not equipped emotionally or intelligence-wise to handle something like
07:30this in life makes it all the more funnier.
07:32Right, why are you guys, your characters, so desperate to get married in this one?
07:36The hunt for the one, the girl?
07:38That's not what the film is about.
07:39That's not at all?
07:40Okay, I just assumed, is it for hunt for the perfect one kind of thing?
07:43No, that's not.
07:44So what is it?
07:45What can you tell us about the movie?
07:46Like, without giving the farm away, now the movie is releasing next week.
07:49There's that one plot point that immediately attracted me to the story, the first time
07:54I heard it three years back and that still remains very, very original.
07:58I, for one, have not heard or seen something like that before and everything else develops
08:03from that one plot point.
08:05So unfortunately, I don't want to tell you that plot point.
08:07He's keeping his cards very close to the chest.
08:09Do you think marriage is the answer to many things?
08:11Like, there are a lot of people who are resisting the institution of marriage, saying it doesn't
08:15work anymore, etc.
08:17What's your take on it?
08:18Marriage is not the answer to anything, forget everything, it's not the answer to anything
08:23If you find that partner, and if both of you want to live together, and you want to have
08:31a family, and you know, you're thinking of having children and all that, then definitely
08:36the structure that we live in as a species within our society, deems that we subscribe
08:43to the institution of marriage, exactly, we subscribe to the institution of marriage,
08:47so that there is a structure that designates us as a family.
08:50As unemotional as it sounds, that is what it is, right?
08:54And yeah, so that's what marriage is.
08:57So don't look at marriage as an answer to something or a solution to something.
09:00It's not.
09:01Right, right.
09:02As an actor, what phase are you going through?
09:03Goat life, I think took, I think a slice of life from you.
09:07It's like 16 years, you said in Bode Miya Chote Miya, I remember in that launch, you
09:11said, have you gotten over it?
09:13And now are you in a good space?
09:14You look happier, I have to admit.
09:15You're healthier.
09:16For sure.
09:17I'm healthier for sure.
09:18Yeah, yeah.
09:19But I mean, I see it's not, I can't sit here and claim to have given 16 years of my life
09:24to goat life.
09:25That is Blessy's claim.
09:26Because I was also doing others in other films, I was involved with many more things during
09:31the process of making goat life.
09:32But I truly believe that I'm way richer as a man, as an actor, as a father, as a husband,
09:39everything.
09:40For having lived through the process of making a piece of art that had so much investment
09:45going into it in terms of effort and skill and everything.
09:48So I'll always look back at the experience of having made that film with utmost, you
09:53know, love and respect and obligation.
09:56But as an actor, as a filmmaker, as somebody involved with the art of making cinema, I'm
10:00in a happy space now, I've been in a happy space for a long while, I should, I mean,
10:03I can't complain.
10:04Okay.
10:05I've been in a place for a long while where I can make the kind of films I want to, the
10:10way I want them to be made.
10:11And I can pick a script or a project that I like and make sure that it is made into
10:16a film that I like.
10:17I mean, till then, it's in my control.
10:20Okay.
10:21Till 16th of May, I know I have a certain amount of control over this project.
10:25After 16th, it belongs to someone else, it belongs to the people who are going to watch
10:28the film.
10:29From there on, there is no point in me sitting over and crying over it or celebrating it
10:34for too long.
10:35Now, Aadhaa Jeetham is a phenomenal success, Goat Life is a huge hit, by far my biggest
10:40hit.
10:41That's done.
10:42That's over now.
10:43I have to now move on to my next film.
10:44Right, right.
10:45What are you hoping with this one?
10:46It's a tough one.
10:47It's difficult to make people laugh.
10:48It's easier to make people cry, they say.
10:49I don't know which one as an actor, do you think, or both are equally gut-wrenching?
10:54Both are equally tough.
10:55If you sit here and say, oh, making people cry is easy, you're taking away from a lot
11:00of actors and directors and writers from their skill.
11:04Equally tough, it is to make people laugh.
11:06But what I hope people will experience while watching this film is more than anything,
11:12a shot of dopamine.
11:14It's actually that happiness shot.
11:16It makes you laugh.
11:18It's not going to traumatize you in any which way.
11:21It's not this heavy plot that is going to, where you're going to be munching on your
11:25popcorn thinking, hang on, what was that?
11:27It's not that.
11:28You don't have to analyze it.
11:29There's no subtext.
11:30It's just this really breezy, feel-good film that will make you laugh.
11:34And I think it's the kind of film where, you know, 10 years from now, if it comes on a
11:37television channel, maybe you'd still want to see it for a bit at least.
11:41Right, of course.
11:43Poochakki ru mukhuthi, those are all cult classics.
11:46I'm not going to sit here and claim that this is in that league.
11:48No, no, no.
11:49I'm just saying, it's one of those movies which just gives you immediate, like you said,
11:52the feel-good factor.
11:53At least that's what I hope this film will be to people who will see it.
11:56Right.
11:57Bro Daddy is one of that.
11:58Thank you so much.
11:59It's a fun watch.
12:00But I really hope this movie does well.
12:01Thank you so much for entertaining us.
12:02Thank you so much.