Basil Joseph, the new Sreenivasan of Malayalam film industry: Sathyan Anthikad

At the ongoing Mathrubhumi International Festival of Letters (MBIFL 2024), Senior Journalist Sreekanth Kottackal conversed with the dynamic duo Sathyan Anthikad and Basil Joseph in a session titled 'The big lives in small worlds'.

"The first time I saw Basil Joseph perform as a writer, director, and actor, I noticed his brilliance and told my sons that the new 'Sreenivasan' of the industry is here," Anthikad said.

"I would definitely place Basil as one of the brilliant actors of our time. He has proven his prowess in writing, direction, and acting. He is down to earth. I have great respect and admiration for him," he added.

When asked about his choice of considering Basil in any of his old movies, Anthikad said that he would have considered him to play T. P Balagopalan in the film 'TP Balagopalan M.A' or as the male lead in the movie 'Sasneham'.

The director called Basil a natural actor who dons the roles of characters very skillfully. His characters in 'Joji' and 'Falimy' are so diverse and yet done artfully, Anthikad opined.
 
"I was born at Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad the year Sathyan Sir's movies 'Sasneham' and 'Kalikkalam' were released. We are both from small villages. When I watch his movies, I visualise Anthikad (the place) in mind," Basil Joseph said.
 
Both the directors reminisced about making their first movies and how both their films began with monologues by the protagonists. Sathyan Anthikad's 'Mandanmar Londonil'  began with Sreenivasan's monologue and Basil's Kunjiramayanam with Biju Menon's monologue.

Basil shared that he has watched Sandesham, Nadodikkattu, and  Pattanapravesham umpteen times. "These movies are still relevant. The casting in these movies is also surprising. I like such humour-oriented movies and keep listening to the audio of the movies when travelling."

Basil said that it is challenging to shoot any village-side movie as any such sort would resemble Sathyan Anthikad movies. The veteran added that while doing the movie 'Amen' director Lijo Jose Pellissery mentioned the same and tried hard to present a village different from those in Anthikad's films. 

"Director Priyadarshan has also taken movies depicting different aspects of village life. While shooting for 'Kunjiramayanam', the biggest challenge was to visualise lives differently from these two director's movies," Basil said. 

Basil chose the movie  'Pingami' as his favourite among Anthikad's movies. At this point, Sathyan Anthikad mentioned that 'Pingami' wasn't accepted in theatres at that time. Hence, he chose not to take movies of such flavour. 

"Now, when I see the present generation enjoying the movie 'Pingami',   I would like to make a movie of a similar genre," Sathyan Anthikad shared.

Commenting on the new-generation directors, Anthikad opined that he appreciates and respects genuine new-movie makers. 

Speaking of his much-acclaimed movie Minnal Murali, Basil mentioned that it took him six months to conclude the detailing and characterization of the villain. 

When asked about being popular with the name 'Janapriyan', Basil replied,  "I don't need any label. 'Janapriya nayakan' is already there. I need my identity. I had limited knowledge about cinema when I started. I was just hopeful that I would get there for sure. I work hard behind the scenes. My research work is more than my work behind the camera. I intensely continue to work and trust the learning process rather than the pressure of expectation. That's my confidence."

"Minnal Murali was created because I like superheroes. I grew up reading Mayavi and Children's stories. To adapt fiction and make cinema, I have to go a long way as I have a huge gap in my reading habits. I used to be a  good reader when I was in school but lost touch with letters as I grew up. Now since I work on visual media, I have switched to visual reading rather than reading books. If ever I make a movie from fiction, it would be 'Randamoozham' after meticulous reading, giving attention to scripting, and detailed preparation," he added.

Speaking about the loss of his favourite actors, Sathyan Anthikad remembered that as he writes, he gets the cast fixed in his mind. Now when writing, he can't place faces on his characters. He is happy that he used the veteran actors when they were healthy and young. He doesn't miss the active participation of his friend writer-actor-director Sreenivasan as he visits him once a week without fail and they share thoughts on new stories, script, and cinema. 

He affirmed that the contribution of artists to the success of a movie is important. The popular lines of 'Shankaradi' speaking about  'Andardhara' are remembered and used over the generations only because Shankaradi did justice to the role.

Both the Directors opined that life experiences and feelings to be filmed in movies cannot be replaced by AI.

During the session, the poet and lyricist B K Harinarayan's book was released by Sathyan Anthikad, handing over a copy to Basil Joseph in the presence of the  Managing Director Shreyans Kumar.