‘If I was a snake, I'd like to bite...'

'Oh my God! Bahut lambi list hai.'

The famously bold and fiercely opinionated Mallika Sherawat is thrilled to have bagged a starring role in the multilingual film Nagmati, which went before cameras on November 8, 2021 with a muhurat puja.

In a first for her career, the actress features in a double role in the film.

Ask if she is offered a role today like Khwahish, a film in which she had upward of 15 kisses with her co-star, would she still do it, and Mallika tells"If the script is good, then I will do it."

The final segment of a two-part interview:

What difference do you see when you compare yourself with the version of yours when you entered the industry?

I think I have more wits now. My level of diplomacy has increased.

When I did films like Khwahish and Murder, I had directly landed from Haryana.

I had no filter back then. I would blurt out things that came to my mind.

Now I think twice before saying anything.

In Khwahish, you had upward of 15 kisses with your co-star Himanshu Malik. If you get offered a role like that today, would you still do it?

If the script is good, then I will do it. It is all very common now anyway.

I am happy I was a pathbreaker back then. I started a trend. And I am happy that I did it.

Do you remember any encounter with a snake, if you ever had one?

So, a couple of years ago, I did a film called Hiss. When we were shooting, every day a snake would emerge on the sets from God knows where.

It was so supernatural and, at the same time, so eerie. Some baby snake or a snake would visit us on the sets every day.

You opened the 2010 Cannes film festival with a live python. Tell us about the experience.

Yeah, it was a live python. That was the real star of the film.

And as far as my experience of carrying it is concerned, trust me it was very creepy.

Who would you like to bite if you were a snake? Oh my God! Bahut lambi list hai.

What do you have to say about the bold content that we see on streaming platforms?

I think it is very good. It is good for the industry because there is no censorship on OTT content. Having said that, along with boldness also comes so

much responsibility.

We have to be really responsible. We cannot exploit the freedom that we get on OTT.

I think there has to be self-censorship. We are not school kids that you need a censor board, but selfcensorship and responsibility every filmmaker and writer should have. And that is there, I feel. Whenever I watch a series on OTT, I do not feel that a certain intimate scene is there just for titillation. It goes with the script.

A lot of actors have forayed into production as well. Do you want to test the waters too?

I did produce much before. I was co-producer on Hiss.

But I enjoy acting more than production. With producing, a lot of tension and a lot of burden is there. I just want to focus on acting.

To act and to produce all at the same time is very difficult.

Right now, I am getting such good acting offers. It is a really good period right now.

Your life has been full of several ups and downs.

Do you think you deserve a biopic of your own?

No.

Who will make a biopic on me anyway?

Or I should say who has so much guts to make a biopic on my life?

For that, you have to show Haryana and ensure authenticity. You have to shed light on how women are treated in Haryana. People are not bold enough to show that reality.

What gives you the guts to tackle complex roles?

I have nothing to lose.

Not taking risks is a bigger risk.

I feel that after a certain time, it is good for an actor to reinvent, to take risks.

Which is your favourite genre?

I like romantic comedies.

The action genre is nice, but it requires a lot of hard work, non-stop training.

Romantic comedies are fun to do. Look pretty, look nice and your job is done.

Would you like to change anything about your two decade-long journey in showbiz?

No, I would not like to change a single bit of it.

I came from Haryana, made my mark and reached this far in my life where I am living life on my own terms. I am independent, I am economically independent. I have met Barack Obama; I have worked with Jackie Chan.

I keep attending big film festivals across the globe. People recognise me abroad. What else can I ask for?

You have also worked with Kamal Haasan. What did you pick up from an actor like him who is an institution in himself?

His adaptability.

If there is a last-minute change in a scene, or if there is any change on the sets, he is very quick to adapt to it. I am not very good at it; I get very nervous if there is a last-minute change.

The flexibility and the adaptability that he has is amazing. He is a genius at that. He is a magician. I consider myself extremely lucky that I got an opportunity to work with him

‘'We had no intention of giving him any positive vibe'' 'At the outset when director Srinath discussed it with Dulquer, there was agreement that it would remain a negative character.'

'So, we knew we wouldn't have to alter the character in any way to suit the image of Dulquer.' When the Malayalam movie Kurup released in hundreds of theatres in Kerala and outside on November 12, there were at least three factors that made it a big draw.

First, theatres in Kerala were being thrown open for the public after a long hiatus.

Secondly, Dulquer Salmaan, a movie star with a panIndian aura, was playing the central character.

But the most important aspect, at least for Malayalis, was that the film revolves around the most notorious pidikittapulli (fugitive from law) Kerala has known, Sukumara Kurup.

In 1984, an Ambassador car caught fire at Kunnam in Alappuzha and a charred body was found in the driver's seat.

Initially, it was thought to be the body of Kurup, a wealthy non-resident Keralite, since the car and the clothes on the body belonged to him.

Later, investigations proved that the body was that of another man called Chacko and the police were able to establish that a murder was committed at the behest of Kurup, who wanted to fake his death to corner insurance money to the tune of Rs 8 lakh.

A sensational case then, and even now, what made Kurup an enigmatic figure was that he has remained elusive to date.

He is believed to have been apprehended at least once, but managed to give the slip either because of colluding policemen or his extreme shrewdness.

This is not the first time the theme has attracted filmmakers but the latest film has been made on a grand scale and the makers have conducted painstaking research to bring a fresh perspective to the well-known and well-worn tale.

Now that the movie is out, one of the questions being asked is, have the makers taken too many cinematic liberties?

Would it directly or indirectly contribute to the glorification of a person who is ultimately a criminal? Sujit Chandra Kumar probed Aravind K S, who wrote the screenplay and dialogues along with Daniell Sayooj Nair, for answers.

How did you come into this project and what is the kind of research that has gone into it?

Like most others, I also had basic knowledge about this case. By nature, I am curious to read profiles of people such as politicians, film-makers and other celebrities.

Even before reading a book, I read the author's profile first with interest.

Real life incidents also interest me a lot.

After becoming a journalist and doing crime reporting, this subject too came into my radar.

I started studying about the incident, the various people involved and the minute details with the intention of writing a book.

It was a friend C V Sarathi, a producer, who suggested that I do a detailed study of this subject. Not only can I write a book but it can perhaps also be made into a movie.

I met many people involved with the incident and was about to get into the stage of writing when I learnt that Srinath Rajendran had already been planning a movie on the same subject.

I knew Srinath well since the days he made Second Show with Dulquer Salmaan as the hero.

When Srinath became aware that I was doing research on the subject with the intention of writing a script, he asked me to join his team.

By then, Daneill was also already on board. So, all four of us -- Srinath the director, Jithin, who wrote the story, myself and Danielle -- had done our own independent research on the topic.

Later, it became a collective exploration into the nuances of the subject. This helped us develop strong content for the film.

Though we describe it as a contemporary subject, the murder in question happened in 1984. Is the crime still remembered because the police could never lay their hands on Kurup?

To a certain extent, it is because of that. The other reason is the peculiar modus operandi and the planning behind the murder.

There is a certain cinematic element in it, something that is likely to attract people's attention.

The first half of the movie mostly deals with events that are already in the public domain and the narration is rather straightforward while in the latter half, certain cinematic liberties are taken and the plot has been fictionalised. Would you agree?

To a certain extent, it may be true. It is a story that is known to most people in Kerala who might have heard or read about it. But there is a section of youth who may not have even heard about it.

The challenge before us was to present the tale in a new way and bring freshness in the narration.

We are revealing the central character through the perspective of the others whom he is surrounded by. Instead of revealing an incident through the eyes of many people, we tried to unveil the key person.

In the second half, the thriller aspects get prominence and hence the difference in the pace of narration.

It is not documentary or docu-fiction, but cinema. There are certain concrete facts which we have placed in the screenplay while there may be others that are not so definite but still based on information that we have

gathered.

Certain cinematic liberties may have been taken. Certain facts are well established in police records and other sources. But there are other things that are not so well known.

The unknown facts may not necessarily be fictional. We have gleaned many facts through our research. There is original information that we have got which never came out in the public domain. It might appear fictional or fictitious to people who haven't read about it.

How did you go about gathering information?

We managed to get information that hadn't been revealed so far from police sources.

We have also got information from people who knew the key persons involved in this incident.

We can't reveal who told us what because there is the issue of confidentiality.

It was a journalistic approach that we adopted.

One key conclusion in the movie plot is that the deed was not done just to gain Rs 8 lakh insurance money as it was popularly believed, but there was a much bigger game plan.

This particular debate whether the motive was to gain the insurance money alone was there even during the investigation days. Therefore, the film delves into other possibilities.

In the days leading up to the movie's release, there were reports about the victim's family having apprehensions if there would be glorification of a person who is thought to have committed the cruel act. Those have now been allayed?

Even during the discussion stage and when we were scripting, we had a clear conviction that we should not portray the accused in a positive light.

We were clear in our mind that the central character is a negative character. We had no intention of giving him any positive vibe. And that is how it has turned out.

All the same, when a popular star like Dulquer plays the role, isn't a certain amount of glorification inevitable? Especially, when the central character is tall, handsome, romantic, shrewd and full of guts? No. At the outset when director Srinath discussed it with Dulquer, there was agreement that it will remain a negative character. So, we knew we wouldn't have to alter the character in any way to suit the image of Dulquer.

Yes, people may expect that when a popular hero like him plays the role, it may have a positive image. But we were able to disprove it through the movie. Sudhakara Kurup (the altered name in the movie) does nothing in the movie that would attract admiration or idolisation. Kurup has a devious aim and he wants to achieve it. It is not only the hero who displays guts and cleverness, but the villain can also have these traits.

His actions determine who he is.