For more, subscribe to GALATTA PLUS: https://tinyurl.com/ysbkyrht
Copyright ©2024 GALATTA.
Posted in: Cinema: Malayalam, Interview
Interview: Fahadh Faasil (‘Aavesham’)
Posted on April 23, 2024
Subscribe:
RSS feed
25 Responses “Interview: Fahadh Faasil (‘Aavesham’)” →
1 Trackback For This Post
-
Interview: Fahadh Faasil (‘Aavesham’) | Baradwaj Rangan - INDIA TAAZA KHABAR →
April 24th, 2024 → 00:55[…] Supply hyperlink […]
LikeLike
Leave a comment
Baradwaj Rangan 
Rambo
April 23, 2024
Looking forward to watching this. BR – reaching out through the comments – but isnt it time you upgraded your blog to a proper website? I must say, that after the introduction of other reviewers for non-Tamil language films it has become much harder to seek out what i want to read amongst the list of incoming entries – between other reviewers, interviews, readers write in and your own reviews. The flurry means I do miss out on things I want to read and not if i come back to the page after a week or two. Would you not consider a website with a layout that better clusters the different types of content?
LikeLiked by 3 people
MANK
April 23, 2024
finally, Brangannan meets Rangannan and even though Rangannan proved to be a rather timid and inarticulate conversationalist, he had the best message for BRangannan: “there are more important things in life than watching movies”
Hi hi hiiiiiii……… watch out for Brangannan’s face in this moment- existential crisis at its peak. A few more interviews like these and we can see BRangannan devolving into existential psychosis ala Travis Bickle.
P.s. A+ for your effort on getting Fahadh for an interview and trying your damnedest to make something of a sensible interview out of his ramblings 🙂
LikeLike
Senthil S
April 23, 2024
He’s said this “leave the movie at the theaters” thing” for pretty much his entire career, but he actually means “leave MY movie and ME at the theaters.” I remember him clarifying that in a older interview. He’s very very uncomfortable with the idea of stardom and has always been very self deprecating. I think if you had pushed back more on that note, he would’ve said it outright.
It’s even here when he lights up whenever you mention some other film or actor’s work. Talking about cinema is awesome as long as it’s not my cinema.The doddering accidental actor thing also seems to put on somewhat though. Kamal mentioned that during Vikram, he would act like a newcomer before a schedule and then completely change on set.
LikeLiked by 1 person
karthik_somasundaram
April 23, 2024
Hi BR,
Wonderful interview. Good to know about FaFa inner thought process towards acting and other things in life.
One thing I felt bad is you tried to overpower him when he said about how talk about his movies to be ended after watching the movie. You haven’t allowed him to explain. Not good.
LikeLike
Jay Krishnan
April 24, 2024
Hahaha, A+ for Baddy for getting the guy onboard but I think this interview made sure that his wish of no one interviewing him about his movies comes true . Honestly , I will just enjoy his performances and not be bothered about these ramblings .
I do think most of the unaware of his ability to act is practiced to perfection at this point. He used to be a lot more clear about his thoughts and his feelings in the beginning of his second phase as an actor .
Did the guy really mean to say that his film family doesn’t think about movies and a good part of their lives isn’t centered around the movies ? In the next sentence he talks about Cinema paradiso changing his life but also that people shouldn’t take movies all that seriously . Make it make sense !
FaFa in has worked with Mohanlal in fact. It was for a movie called Red Wine . He did recount in an old interview that when he was struggling with his method as an actor,Fazil had him talk to Mohanlal and Mohanlal telling him something like you should feel the character from the gut or stomach or something like that and it made sense to him at the time . It is some kind of actor thing I guess where you feel a tingle in the stomach. It is a shame that both FaFa and Mohanlal continue to be reclusive about their process in public forums. With Mohanlal, I kind of get it because many directors have recounted stories of Mohanlal telling them he couldn’t recollect what he did in a take when asked to change something in the next one .
Mammooty is a lot more open ,articulate and aware of his craft and I think you should really try getting him on board for a chat. His proficiency in English can vary wildly but Mammooty is definitely one you can expect to get clear answers on the method of acting and how he went about a role.
LikeLike
Chandrasekar R
April 24, 2024
Hi BR,
Amazing interview. Long time lurker here…
I’ve felt like BR has been trying to ask the same question to a lot of different people over the last year about the “entertainment factor” in movies nowadays, and all of the people who have answered are just, in my opinion, kind and generous (or scared) enough to not utter a single word of criticism at how audiences’ tastes have changed in the face of short-form content.
Fahadh says that young-gen actors/crew are not worried about saving face in front of the camera, and so let loose. The sanctity of cinema has been taken away, and when something is not considered sacred anymore, it leads to experimentation. This sort of experimentation/indulgence is arguably good, and might lead to movies like Aavesham or Premalu, but it is only rarely that they lead to movies like Bramayugam or Lover. More often than not, in today’s world, a filmmaker would decide to do a “Love Today” instead of a “Lover. And I am not talking about the gender-politics of the movie here, I am talking at how both those movies indulge their audience’s basest wants.
As an aasthaana gen-Z person, I can say with utmost confidence that our attention spans and our way of approaching a movie’s highs and lows have completely changed. It’s a little sad, but I hope some course correction happens in the future.
LikeLike
Jay Krishnan
April 24, 2024
Agree. I think Baddy is keeping this for nostalgic value
LikeLike
Jay Krishnan
April 24, 2024
I am sure there is a movie titled ‘ The Interview’ waiting to be made out of this. The story synopsis goes something like this : India’s best movie critic plunged into existential crisis during his interview with best actor of this generation. The movie critic then takes it upon himself to show the snobbish, self-unaware actor what movies mean to a cinephile.
LikeLike
brangan
April 24, 2024
Chandrasekhar: The sanctity of cinema has been taken away
Brilliant comment (and I would add “music”, too). And if FaFa did not believe in this sanctity, he would not care how he looks before a shot, asking for a mirror, or how he acted in a shot, asking to look at the monitor. He would not be asking to reshoot the first few days’ scenes in order to match the “meter” of the character he has found later, and therefore wants those scenes to be aligned with the externalities of the character he has now decided to embody.
Maybe like Brando, he is just not comfortable projecting that “genius” stuff, and therefore dismisses it in front of the public (and pesky interviewers 🙂 ). But I am happy I got to talk to him — first time we talking face to face, I mean, apart from phone, messages, etc. And as always, the unguarded pre- and post-interview conversations were great fun 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
brangan
April 24, 2024
About the blog, does it really matter whether it is a ‘blog’ or a ‘web site’. Do you mean, you want things like drop-down lists etc.?
If yes, can someone suggest free WordPress templates that function better like a web site? Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
brangan
April 24, 2024
Talking of sanctity of cinema… trolls / memes have definitely contributed to the loss of this sanctity. Some may say “deservingly so” – but this affects the perception of good films too
LikeLike
Jay Krishnan
April 24, 2024
After having watched it ag
LikeLike
abishekspeare
April 24, 2024
brangan: These are some good free themes for wordpress : https://wordpress.com/themes/free
But, I would argue the existing theme is very straightforward and simple to navigate, especially with you tagging the posts into categories. More so while viewing it in a phone – I would personally prefer this to more complicated templates
LikeLike
Venky Ramachandran
April 24, 2024
I would urge you to not change the theme. The charm of this website and its influence lies in its simplicity.
LikeLiked by 2 people
mvky
April 24, 2024
Well, sanctity of everything is at stake and some deservedly and some not. There maybe more important things than watching movies, fan worship or taking ourselves seriously. For a movie critic, watching movies is the most important just like for a doctor spending time curing the patients is the most important part of life. If a doctor says otherwise, he will lose his patients. Hope that politicians also start thinking that other things are more important than politics and start doing something else like taking to organic farming or even acting. And they are already acting during election times.
And there are actors like Manoj Bajpayee who give sanctity and sanity to films.
LikeLike
soorya N
April 24, 2024
Hello Baradwaj sir ,
just using this platform to request you to start doing interviews on writers .
let them be a writer for movies, books, or a stage play writer.
How writing works for an ordinary person if he is having passion for writing and how he can emerge well in the society etc..
you can ask these kinds of questions to open the eyes of writers , upcoming writers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
abishekspeare
April 26, 2024
soorya N: BR does ask a lot of writing related questions in his interviews with directors – especially in his deep dives. I think the issue with interviewing pure writers becomes a matter of viewership
LikeLike
BR FAN
April 26, 2024
Contrary to popular opinion, I feel like this was a great interview and Fahadh really gave some good answers.For eg/- his opinion that this is the time for Malayalam films to go experimental is bang on. Malayalam films don’t have have the budget nor do the filmmakers here have the skill set required to make an RRR/KGF esque ‘pan-Indian’ movie, rather it’s best to make as much experimental stuff out there and hope something sticks, like it worked for recent movies like Brahmayugam, MB, Premalu etc. This same approach had worked for Kantara.
He was candid for the most part, except for the following:
LikeLiked by 1 person
brangan
April 27, 2024
Got this via email…
I probably may not make it to your reading this mail, considering you would receive tons of mails.
I watched the interview with FaFa. It was painful, I felt his struggle, I felt his incoherence, I sensed his probably racing mind teeming zigzaggedly perhaps, I knew all this because in a way I feel quite the same when it comes to articulating thoughts in speech. Mind you, I do not know his real life personality, for all we know, he may not be a real nice person and there is no need he has to be. What I mean is I didn’t feel pity for him or anything as he blunderingly went through a crashcringey introvertish uphill struggle to string out a sentence coherently.
Because the man is phenomenally awesome on screen.Fiery, feisty, Tall. Brilliant.
I haven’t watched all of his films but a few, super deluxe, trance, kumbalangi nights, shots from maamanan. He said in the interview he didn’t want people dwelling on his movies long after the movie is seen. It was ages ago but the creepiness of those mad eyes in kumbalangi nights still makes me uneasy!
Usually I marvel at your questions in interviews, how deeply insightful the thoughts pace out. But with Fafa’s I honestly thought maybe the interview could have been edited and his..choppy turn of words left out. Perhaps too, mine is misplaced empathy?
Forgive me if am rambling but typing this amidst chaotic everydayness.
I like to think I am good at my work, I give it my all, getting in return monetarywise is not on my mind as I focus on what my patient needs and how I can better the unwellness. But put me in front of a large gathering or stick out a microphone, I would be jittery and run a mile. So I watched in horror/fascination his inarticulateness at once so familiar to me. Ah the world is so tuned to extroversion, hustling.
Maybe my take on this is all wrong. After all the man braved and ploughed through.
Just felt like writing this. I too feel like how he said, people shouldn’t deliberate on social media and waste one’s life about movies and your outrage by this sentiment was smileworthy. Somewhere I middle the path.
LikeLike
brangan
April 27, 2024
LikeLike
brangan
April 27, 2024
Kavitha Gold & Diamonds appoints actor Fahadh Faasil as brand ambassador
https://retailjewellerindia.com/kavitha-gold-diamonds-appoints-actor-fahadh-faasil-as-brand-ambassador-plans-major-expansion/
LikeLiked by 1 person
MANK
April 27, 2024
Fahadh worked with Mammootty in Pramani as well.
He also did a film with Mohanlal called Red Wine. But I think they didn’t have any scenes together.
I think Fahadh still has nightmares about his disastrous debut in Kayethum Doorathu after which he had to take a long sabbatical, learn acting and then make a slow and steady comeback. So he fully knows what audience rejection means and he must have been very hurt then. So, maybe this aversion for film-related discussions is his defense mechanism to protect himself (and the fact that he is not a good conversationalist).
LikeLike
Ganapathy Parameswaran
April 27, 2024
I just finished watching this interview and I have to say it was a pleasant surprise. In certain ways it was like watching BR interviewing Thiyagarajan Kumararaja. The only difference here was that FaFa was finding it hard to articulate whereas the TK is great in articulating his reluctance to talk about his films or rather explaining them.
The surprising part was also how despite not liking to be discussed about beyond the theatres, the way FaFa went on to explain his method of acting. I think that was the only part he didn’t stutter at all.
I have a few questions for you though, BR. When it comes to introverted people like FaFa, how do you prepare? I am sure the pre-recording phase helps in breaking the ice, but in a case such as this one, it must have been particularly hard, isn’t it? I ask because my job requires me to ask questions and I have learned so much about the art of asking questions through your interviews. I’m sure many would agree if we could get a glance of a behind-the-scenes of your interviews.
The next question: How do you ensure that you ask the questions you have planned? This is an interview question from my end. Also, I’m trying to understand if there is a way you are able to achieve that without exceeding the time limit allotted (by the artist/galattaplus).
I hope that this gets answered. Here’s praying to the internet gods and Rangan!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rohit Sathish Nair
April 28, 2024
MANK: Apparently a scene where Mohanlal and Fahadh share space did exist, as part of the initial cut that was screened at least for the first few days of the film’s (short) theatrical scene (At least this is what my cousin, and my sister and grandma told me, after separate screenings)
Wouldn’t wanna spoil the scene immediately (it was post-climactic too), but do let me know if you guys are still curious (I’ll tell you this much: cousin, sis and gran all told me that the scene was absurd, but then, none of them liked the movie)
LikeLike