Empuraan’s Tovino Thomas: The greatness of an actor like Mohanlal is that…

When Lucifer released in 2019, Tovino Thomas was one of the many on its power-house ensemble cast, in a small, albeit pivotal role. He was Jatin Ramdas, the son of former chief minister PK Ramdas (Sachin Khedekar), the reluctant politician, who returns to home ground based on the word of his “brother”, who also got to mouth a punch line about not only knowing to wear a mundu (dhoti), speak Malayalam and maybe say a couple of expletives too.

He returns to reprise the character and promises that there will be new lines that fans will enjoy. The speculation is that Jatin’s character arc will be grey this time, which, he has not confirmed. While it is not clear how much of an upgrade he gets in terms of screen presence in the sequel, given that there are 40-50 characters in the film, this time around, he gets to share screen space with Mohanlal.

This is only the second time in Tovino’s career that he’s been in the same frame as Mohanlal, after 2014’s Koothara. Speaking at the last promotional event of Empuraan, the second instalment in the Lucifer trilogy, in Kochi, Tovino reminisced about the time he worked with the Malayalam superstar in Koothara. 11 years later, they will be seen together onscreen again.

“Lalettan has been in the industry for 47 years. He is much loved and respected and has the star power to enjoy a lot of privileges on the set. And yet he continues to exude a child-like excitement and greed to do good cinema, which inspires me greatly. For instance, during one of my close-up shots, where he was not required to be on set, the plan was to stick a paper next to the lens which would serve as focal point for me to look and deliver my line,” explained Tovino.

Also read: 5 best Tovino Thomas-starrers on OTT that you should not miss 

He elaborated that while the co-actor does not have to be in the frame at that point, Mohanlal asked if he needed to stand in the position opposite Tovino and then proceeded to go stand right next to the focal point that had been earmarked for him. “While the scene was of me telling something to Lalettan, he did not have to be around for that shot, but I got to do it while looking at his face, which, I believe, has enhanced my performance. That’s the greatness of an actor like Mohanlal that he supports his co-stars to do their best,” added Tovino.