Exclusive! Fahadh Faasil reveals Arvind Swami’s role in getting AR Rahman onboard for Malayankunju

Sajimon Prabhakar’s survival thriller marks AR Rahman’s comeback to Malayalam after 30 years

Arvind Swami, Fahadh Faasil and AR Rahman

The makers of Fahadh Faasil’s Malayankunju seems to have left no stone unturned to ensure that the present the best theatrical experience for the audience. The survival thriller, revolving around a man trapped in a landslide, marks maestro AR Rahman’s comeback to the Malayalam film industry after a gap of 30 years.

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, Fahadh revealed how and why he approached the Oscar-winning composer for the Sajimon Prabhakar directorial, which is scripted by Mahesh Narayanan.

“From the second half onwards, Malayankunju is a one-actor narrative,” says Fahadh. “I had always envisioned the film as a musical and even told Mahesh this during the shoot. I took some time to convince everyone.”

Once everyone was onboard with the idea, the Vikram actor says that he got in touch with Rahman through Tamil star Arvind Swami. “I called Arvind Swami sir and told him about this film. He got very excited and said, ‘I think you should speak to Rahman’. In no time, I got connected to Rahman sir and we met up in Dubai,” he says.

Also read: Exclusive! Fahadh Faasil: Malayankunju is the toughest film I have done, we had to crouch, crawl to shoot it

At their first meeting in Dubai, Rahman watched the footage of the film. “He asked me what kind of music I wanted and I told him, ‘I want relief’. So, he asked, ‘Where do you want the songs?’ I told him I just wanted the background score. He said, ‘Why man? Put songs. Songs are good.’ Then we started talking,” says the actor.

After the initial discussion, Fahadh says that the composer said he will figure out about working on the music storyboard and get back. “Then I think after a week or two, he called me and said he has started structuring the film. That’s when he said that I want to use songs. ‘There are so many emotions in this film and I want to use songs,’ Rahman sir said. That’s how we have four tracks in the movie,” explains Fahadh.

Malayankunju, which also has Rajisha Vijayan, Indrans and Jaffer Idukki, is produced by director Fazil and is set to hit theatres on July 22.

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