00:00Excellent. It shows the, what you can call, the craving of the audience to watch this
00:13film and thanks to the audience to create a hype like this and it is their confidence
00:21in us and they are all waiting to watch this film. Once in a while it happens and it happened
00:28with our film. We are so delighted. We are honoured.
00:32You know we are truly humbled with what has been happening at the advance booking counters
00:36across the world and I am privileged to be directing a film that is being met with so
00:44much anticipation and excitement and all I can hope and pray for is that come 27th we
00:49would have met all these giant expectations that are being placed upon us. But it truly
00:53is beyond all that we could have imagined and I am thankful for it.
00:57I am super excited. I am just even more than excited I would say I am super grateful for
01:02the opportunity of being a part of this, the magnum opus if you can call it that. Lucifer
01:10was the first part of this franchise was one of those films that for an actor it is such
01:17a privilege being a part of in terms of the scale and in terms of the acceptance from
01:24the audience and the kind of role that you get to play in such a film and of course working
01:30with great people like Lalit and of course I have been fortunate enough to do a few films
01:35with him all of which have been very very loved and accepted by the audience and of
01:42course I have not worked with Raju as an actor but it is as a director that I got to interact
01:48with him for the first time in Lucifer and now in Empuran like I can easily say any day
01:54he will be in the top 5 of my favourite directors list.
01:57It is such a pleasure working with a director who has such confidence and clarity about
02:02what he wants and it makes it is such a beautiful a pleasurable experience for the actor any
02:08actor who is working with him you can ask any of us who has worked in both the films.
02:13So for me I am enjoying the privilege of like and the happiness and the excitement
02:18of having been part of such a film and I am of course I am eagerly waiting to know what
02:24the audience also thinks about this film.
02:32There is no recipe for a perfect film you know if you go looking for recipes and you
02:36think that you can design a film I do not think you would be very successful at making
02:43what is organically an appealing piece of cinema.
02:46Yes I understand that mainstream cinema does have its you know statuary feel good pillars
02:52to be falling back on but that is not how we have conceived Lucifer or for that matter
02:57Empuran we have had a story to say and we knew the method that we wanted to adopt to
03:02say the story and as my writer Murali Gopi and I have honestly and sincerely followed
03:08that method and the process the screenplay is taken shape by itself.
03:12That way I think it is a very honest appraisal of what a mainstream cinema should be like
03:17and I just hope that you know we can only make a film that appeals to ourselves.
03:22So as a filmmaker I have made a film that appeals to me and I can only hope and pray
03:26that like the first part of the franchise even this one what is appealing to me happens
03:31to be appealing to a large number of people so that the film becomes a big hit.
03:34No no it is how you construct the sequences, how you place a song it is an intelligent
03:41affair.
03:42It is not a secret recipe but to be in that format it is a challenging thing.
03:50If you need an action then you have to put an action so it is a sequences that create
03:56and if you need an emotion then it so it is a combination of everything and if the placement
04:02is not correct it is not it won't work but like Lucifer it was a perfect combination
04:08it is a very well orchestrated, very well constructed script.
04:13So script is the main thing and how you implement that is the brilliance of the director.
04:23No it is a big privilege actually I mean we are able I was able as a filmmaker to dream
04:30so big and pull off something of this scale and grandeur only because all of us knew that
04:34there would be anticipation and expectation placed upon the second part of Lucifer.
04:39So it is a privilege that people are looking forward to the film but unfortunately I can't
04:43let that pressure or anticipation dictate the way I am going to make my film and more
04:48importantly I should never lose sight of the fact that this is not a sequel of part 2 that
04:53was born out of the success of part 1.
04:55This was always envisioned way before even part 1 started shoot and I should always stay
04:59true to the original idea and conception of course there will be reviewing, doctoring
05:04as time progresses just before we start shoot but I have never let the anticipation of the
05:11audience or the expectation placed upon the film dictate how I am going to make the film.
05:16I have like I said tried and stayed as honest as I can to how I want to tell the story and
05:21I am just hoping that people like it like part 1.
05:29Nothing on nervousness, we have done a great job, we have come out with a beautiful piece
05:34of art.
05:35It's like he said, this is convincing for us, we have created a magic or whatever and
05:41we have done it with a full justice, with full integrity and now we are presenting it
05:47to the audience.
05:48Please accept it and that acceptance is already there.
05:52So it is not pressure, it's a beautiful relief actually but tomorrow then if it is a success
05:58excellent.
05:59Otherwise also we have done a job, see you couldn't go and correct it.
06:04So like why we should just give our appreciation or our comments of the film to the audience
06:11that's why we are talking.
06:12Otherwise we are very cool, we are happy, we are enjoying.
06:17This is a part of our profession, if you are best you will get awards, if your film is
06:22good you will get an award.
06:24That is again a very major question, how?
06:27Because of the colleagues, because of the script, because of the fact that you are doing
06:32a film with a good director, they are shaping us.
06:37So the entire credit goes to them, not with an actor.
06:40I would not call it self-doubt but I am still as nervous as I was for the first shot of
06:46my first film.
06:47When I do a shot, even in Empuran or even in whatever film is coming next, before every
06:54shot I am as nervous as I was for the first shot of my film.
06:58So I am praying that that should never go away.
07:02So that is what keeps me wanting to improve myself or like do better myself.
07:09I think that should be there always, I am happy that I am still nervous.
07:18Nobody becomes a star, you can only aspire to be a good actor or be good at whatever
07:24craft within cinema you are handling.
07:27Everything else is territory, people give you tags, people think of you as stars but
07:33that exists outside of you.
07:35Within yourself there is no stardom, within yourself you are always trying to be better
07:40than your version of yesterday and like Manju beautifully put it, if you go through an extended
07:45phase of your career where you don't feel challenged, maybe even intimidated by the
07:50task or by what is demanded of you as an actor or a technician, then you are probably not
07:54doing it right.
07:55So everything else, the stardom, the clout, the fame, everything exists outside of you.
08:01When you are within yourself, when you are with yourself, it is just you, your craft
08:05and how long and how far you can challenge yourself.
08:09I am just learning, this is a process, let me become a good actor, then I will give you
08:15a proper answer, seriously, seriously, seriously.
08:23I don't know, I can say that I am happy that I am, especially in Kerala, I am not a stranger
08:31to anyone, I can go to any house at any point of the day at night or day and ask for a glass
08:36of water and they will give it to me.
08:38So they won't even doubt, okay who is this, why is she coming and asking.
08:43So maybe that won't be there, so I think I will enjoy that for the time being.
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