Amala Muralidharan
“As a kid I always wanted to be an actor, I would rehearse dialogues in front of the mirror and even experiment with my looks. But destiny got me the director’s hat”, says the chirpy filmmaker. Saji has redefined cinema, concentrating on comedy and adding all flavours with a new generation feel to it. When asked about his latest ‘Angry Babies in Love’, he says “it was a total surprise; I guess people have enjoyed every bit of the movie till its very tail end and made it a mega hit”.
He may have started off as an assistant director in his teens but with the hardwork culminating into success in his kitty, he has surely come a long way. He is best known for his telefilms – December Mist, Aazham and Vilolam, which fetched him State Telivision Awards and Film Critics’ Awards, and then an entry to films.
The filmmaker has Ivar Vivaahitharayaal, Happy Husbands, Four Friends, Kunjaliyan, Husbands in Goa and Angry Babies in Love to his credit. He savoured success for the first time with Ivar Vivaahitharayaal in 2009 and there has been no looking back.
Saji Surendran in a candid chat with Amala Muralidharan about his journey…
Amala Muralidharan (AM): ‘Film is a medium of communication’. Your take on this…
Saji Surendran (SS): Films do portray the required message, but entertainment is the core essence that attracts audiences. Without this the film is just like a plain documentary. So both factors should co-exist in the right proportion for making the film a success
AM: ‘Saji Surendran movies are laced with humour’…
SS: I think from the point of view of the audience. I make films which entertain to the fullest and are a fun-filled ride, loved by the young and old at the same time. I would want people to have a good time laughing out their hearts watching my movies.
AM: Your biggest film influences
SS: I joined the film fraternity, by assisting Viji Thampy in serials. He has taught me the basics and is my guru. Priyadarshan’s movies have been a huge inspiration in all my works.
AM: Tell us about the likes and dislikes of viewers of both big screen as well as small screen. You are the perfect one to define them as you have worked for both…
SS: The transition from small screen to the 70 mm screen has been a herculean task… Celluloid has always made me spellbound from my childhood days. Once I auditioned for the role of a child actor for a daily soap, the director there on the location caught my attention. Though I was selected for the particular role, I ended up choosing direction over acting.
I did my first independent direction at the age of 20 for ‘December Mist’. My big screen debut in 2009, Ivar Vivaahitharayaal won many acclamations. Indian television’s target audience is mainly women. Television has its own pros and cons, and is entertaining too. At times a movie which does not do much in theatres, surprisingly wins accolades on TV. Content on the small screen is more often TRP-driven. Family oriented movies are expected to be a success in theatres and are far more elaborate and publicized.
AM: From your first directorial venture, how has your craft changed?
SS: Debut films are always special. The idea of portrayal kicked off with a very normal life experience of friendship. As a newbie, all my recent films till date have been about friendship and love, so my idea of creativity hasn’t changed much. But yes with time I do keep myself current with technology involving film direction, screenplay and the new cinematic equipment. For example, Husbands in Goa, the train was a complete setup and was made to look realistic using green matte screen.
AM: How is your ‘Four Friends’ different from the other 5 fun packages?
SS: Four Friends is a movie close to my heart, which has a very touching message in it. Kamal Hassan gives a big message to people that ‘every person on earth is born to die one day, so you got to fight the cancer instead of giving up’. This film was even dubbed in Tamil as Anbulla Kamal.
AM: ‘Angry Babies in Love’ in short…
SS: A complete entertainment, entertainment and just entertainment!
AM: How much is music essential for the success of a film? You have a Hindi song in this film, for the second time after ‘Four Friends’…
SS: Music is divine and omnipresent. It can tell the untold and speak the unspoken that is why the song ‘Yeh Dosti’ was symbolically used for ‘Four Friends’. Since ‘Angry Babies in Love’ was shot mostly in Mumbai so the song ‘Zindagi’ obviously had to portray the tradition, culture and tastes of ‘Aamchi Mumbai’ through its language!
AM: ‘Angry Babies in Love’ is your sixth movie. What is it like to work with the same crew in six movies back-to-back?
SS: The collaboration and understanding between me and my friends is the prime reason for the success of my movies. These people have been with me since the days I was an amateur doing serials. We are one bunch of crazy people who share the same wavelength and voila… magic shows on the screen!!!
AM: How did the storyline for ‘Angry Babies in Love’ come up?
SS: My association with Anoop Menon dates back to 16 years, when we were working for serials. We have even done 3 telefilms together. The concept of ‘Angry Babies in Love’ took birth during ‘December Mist’, only the name has changed today.
AM: What’s next?
SS: ‘She Taxi’, which tells the story of a female driver’s journey in life and a Anoop Menon-Jayasurya combo’s ‘Sweetheart’ in near future.
