In an exclusive interview with IANS, Empuraan stars Mohanlal, Prithviraj, and Manju Warrier opened up about the film’s phenomenal response. With advance bookings shattering records, Mohanlal said that it’s humbling and thrilling. On genre-blending, Prithviraj added that it’s like cooking and balance is everything. Following Lucifer’s massive success, Manju admitted that yes, the pressure is real, but exciting. On battling self-doubt, Mohanlal and Prithviraj shared the secret. With Empuraan, this dream team promises yet another cinematic storm.
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#Empuraan #Mohanlal #PrithvirajSukumaran #ManjuWarrier #EmpuraanInterview #IANSExclusive #LuciferSequel
#SouthIndianCinema #EmpuraanAdvanceBooking #MalayalamCinema #BlockbusterInMaking #StarTalk #BehindTheScenes #EmpuraanFever
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FunTranscript
00:00Excellent. It shows the, what you can call, the craving of the audience to watch this
00:13film and thanks to the audience to create a hype like this and it is their confidence
00:21in us and they are all waiting to watch this film. Once in a while it happens and it happened
00:28with our film. We are so delighted. We are honoured.
00:32You know we are truly humbled with what has been happening at the advance booking counters
00:36across the world and I am privileged to be directing a film that is being met with so
00:44much anticipation and excitement and all I can hope and pray for is that come 27th we
00:49would have met all these giant expectations that are being placed upon us. But it truly
00:53is beyond all that we could have imagined and I am thankful for it.
00:57I am super excited. I am just even more than excited I would say I am super grateful for
01:02the opportunity of being a part of this, the magnum opus if you can call it that. Lucifer
01:10was the first part of this franchise was one of those films that for an actor it is such
01:17a privilege being a part of in terms of the scale and in terms of the acceptance from
01:24the audience and the kind of role that you get to play in such a film and of course working
01:30with great people like Lalit and of course I have been fortunate enough to do a few films
01:35with him all of which have been very very loved and accepted by the audience and of
01:42course I have not worked with Raju as an actor but it is as a director that I got to interact
01:48with him for the first time in Lucifer and now in Empuran like I can easily say any day
01:54he will be in the top 5 of my favourite directors list.
01:57It is such a pleasure working with a director who has such confidence and clarity about
02:02what he wants and it makes it is such a beautiful a pleasurable experience for the actor any
02:08actor who is working with him you can ask any of us who has worked in both the films.
02:13So for me I am enjoying the privilege of like and the happiness and the excitement
02:18of having been part of such a film and I am of course I am eagerly waiting to know what
02:24the audience also thinks about this film.
02:32There is no recipe for a perfect film you know if you go looking for recipes and you
02:36think that you can design a film I do not think you would be very successful at making
02:43what is organically an appealing piece of cinema.
02:46Yes I understand that mainstream cinema does have its you know statuary feel good pillars
02:52to be falling back on but that is not how we have conceived Lucifer or for that matter
02:57Empuran we have had a story to say and we knew the method that we wanted to adopt to
03:02say the story and as my writer Murali Gopi and I have honestly and sincerely followed
03:08that method and the process the screenplay is taken shape by itself.
03:12That way I think it is a very honest appraisal of what a mainstream cinema should be like
03:17and I just hope that you know we can only make a film that appeals to ourselves.
03:22So as a filmmaker I have made a film that appeals to me and I can only hope and pray
03:26that like the first part of the franchise even this one what is appealing to me happens
03:31to be appealing to a large number of people so that the film becomes a big hit.
03:34No no it is how you construct the sequences, how you place a song it is an intelligent
03:41affair.
03:42It is not a secret recipe but to be in that format it is a challenging thing.
03:50If you need an action then you have to put an action so it is a sequences that create
03:56and if you need an emotion then it so it is a combination of everything and if the placement
04:02is not correct it is not it won't work but like Lucifer it was a perfect combination
04:08it is a very well orchestrated, very well constructed script.
04:13So script is the main thing and how you implement that is the brilliance of the director.
04:23No it is a big privilege actually I mean we are able I was able as a filmmaker to dream
04:30so big and pull off something of this scale and grandeur only because all of us knew that
04:34there would be anticipation and expectation placed upon the second part of Lucifer.
04:39So it is a privilege that people are looking forward to the film but unfortunately I can't
04:43let that pressure or anticipation dictate the way I am going to make my film and more
04:48importantly I should never lose sight of the fact that this is not a sequel of part 2 that
04:53was born out of the success of part 1.
04:55This was always envisioned way before even part 1 started shoot and I should always stay
04:59true to the original idea and conception of course there will be reviewing, doctoring
05:04as time progresses just before we start shoot but I have never let the anticipation of the
05:11audience or the expectation placed upon the film dictate how I am going to make the film.
05:16I have like I said tried and stayed as honest as I can to how I want to tell the story and
05:21I am just hoping that people like it like part 1.
05:29Nothing on nervousness, we have done a great job, we have come out with a beautiful piece
05:34of art.
05:35It's like he said, this is convincing for us, we have created a magic or whatever and
05:41we have done it with a full justice, with full integrity and now we are presenting it
05:47to the audience.
05:48Please accept it and that acceptance is already there.
05:52So it is not pressure, it's a beautiful relief actually but tomorrow then if it is a success
05:58excellent.
05:59Otherwise also we have done a job, see you couldn't go and correct it.
06:04So like why we should just give our appreciation or our comments of the film to the audience
06:11that's why we are talking.
06:12Otherwise we are very cool, we are happy, we are enjoying.
06:17This is a part of our profession, if you are best you will get awards, if your film is
06:22good you will get an award.
06:24That is again a very major question, how?
06:27Because of the colleagues, because of the script, because of the fact that you are doing
06:32a film with a good director, they are shaping us.
06:37So the entire credit goes to them, not with an actor.
06:40I would not call it self-doubt but I am still as nervous as I was for the first shot of
06:46my first film.
06:47When I do a shot, even in Empuran or even in whatever film is coming next, before every
06:54shot I am as nervous as I was for the first shot of my film.
06:58So I am praying that that should never go away.
07:02So that is what keeps me wanting to improve myself or like do better myself.
07:09I think that should be there always, I am happy that I am still nervous.
07:18Nobody becomes a star, you can only aspire to be a good actor or be good at whatever
07:24craft within cinema you are handling.
07:27Everything else is territory, people give you tags, people think of you as stars but
07:33that exists outside of you.
07:35Within yourself there is no stardom, within yourself you are always trying to be better
07:40than your version of yesterday and like Manju beautifully put it, if you go through an extended
07:45phase of your career where you don't feel challenged, maybe even intimidated by the
07:50task or by what is demanded of you as an actor or a technician, then you are probably not
07:54doing it right.
07:55So everything else, the stardom, the clout, the fame, everything exists outside of you.
08:01When you are within yourself, when you are with yourself, it is just you, your craft
08:05and how long and how far you can challenge yourself.
08:09I am just learning, this is a process, let me become a good actor, then I will give you
08:15a proper answer, seriously, seriously, seriously.
08:23I don't know, I can say that I am happy that I am, especially in Kerala, I am not a stranger
08:31to anyone, I can go to any house at any point of the day at night or day and ask for a glass
08:36of water and they will give it to me.
08:38So they won't even doubt, okay who is this, why is she coming and asking.
08:43So maybe that won't be there, so I think I will enjoy that for the time being.