Director Gautham Vasudev Menon recently shared insights into his debut Malayalam film 'Dominic and The Ladies’ Purse', revealing the process of convincing the legendary Mammootty to take on the title role. 

According to Menon, the film's writer, Dr Neeraj Rajan, initially pitched the story to several actors, but Menon believed the story was a perfect fit for Mammootty. However, there were uncertainties about whether the actor would agree to take on the role.

"The film's writer 'Neeraj' took the story to a few actors. But from the beginning, I kept saying that this would work for Mammootty sir. However, we were not sure he would select it," Menon explained. He continued, "I kept watching Mammootty sir work for the past few years, all of them being very experimental stuff: 'Brahmayugam', 'Nanpakal Nerath Mayakkam', and 'Kaathal'. After that, I acted with him in 'Bazooka'. However, at that time, there was no discussion about my directorial." 

After completing his previous project, Menon gathered the courage to reach out to someone close to Mammootty. "I had already told my writer that if Mammootty sir asked what the idea is, let him not tell that and instead narrate the story... However, he asked what the idea was, and I told him that it was an 'investigation.' He immediately said, 'No Gautham, there are so many such films in Kerala now, and I have done these days.' He told me, 'Let us not do an investigative story, but if there is anything else, he would hear it.' The conversation was over in just 10 minutes. But, I told him that if he had heard the story, he would love it. So, we narrated the story in half an hour, and he was hooked…”

Menon also expressed his excitement about working with Mammootty on set. “Every day I looked forward to meeting Mammootty sir. It was exciting. It was like, 'Oh my God... I am working with the person I have watched so many times.' I always looked forward to conversations with him on set."

When asked about the one thing he would love to bring from the Malayalam industry to the Tamil industry, Menon responded candidly, "They won't let me work here if I say that. As of now, the heroes here don't work with me. However, half of these movies wouldn’t even be made in Tamil; they would be remakes. If I were to go and narrate this (Dominic movie) to someone here for the first time, there’s no way they would say yes to it. None of the actors would pick a film like this in Tamil."

'Dominic and The Ladies’ Purse' marks Menon’s debut in Malayalam cinema, with Mammootty playing the title role of Dominic, a detective running an agency named Dominic Detectives in Kochi. Gokul Suresh stars as Dominic's assistant in the film, which also features a stellar ensemble cast, including Lenaa, Siddique, Vijay Babu, and Viji Venkatesh in pivotal roles. The film's cinematography is handled by Vishnu Dev, while Lewellyn Anthony takes charge of editing.