Exclusive: ‘Pookkaalam’ explores the feelings of an elderly couple; director Ganesh Raj

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By Aarjun Ramachandran

12/04/2023

Pookkaalam, is receiving a good response from the audience. It deals with a subject less heard of in Malayalam cinema.

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In an exclusive interview with South First, the filmmaker speaks about his movie, filmmaking concepts and the choice of actors in Pookkaalam.

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Even in Pookkaalam, Ittoop’s family doesn’t take the issues seriously. But Ittoop and his wife Kochuthresiya have feelings of their own and I wanted to explore those feelings.

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Both Leela ma’am and Vijayaraghavan sir are stage artists. Their experience in acting is different and gives extra quality to the work.

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I wanted someone who has no similarities with the other family members for the role of Clara. My first choice was Suhasini ma’am as she is an experienced actress.

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Vineeth Sreenivasan and Basil Joseph have a good fan following and add commercial value to the project. But the fact is that they can’t replace the character played by Vijayaraghavan.

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Vineeth Sreenivasan and Basil Joseph gave me inputs for the script and even improvised their characters.

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Usually, filmmakers use different gimmicks like changing colour during flashback scenes.

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I was firm in using the aspect ratio consumed by mass media during that period to show flashback scenes.

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A major part of the movie is shot in a house. So, I chose to have taller frames to give importance to the central characters and capture their emotions.

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