PremiumExclusive | Raj B Shetty says 'With Siri Ravikumar, Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye has become beautiful poetry'
Raj B Shetty tells OTTplay what he spotted in Siri Ravikumar to cast her in the role of Prerana in Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye
Last Updated: 05.06 PM, Nov 22, 2023
Raj B Shetty's third directorial Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye presents actor Siri Ravikumar in a never-seen-before role of Prerana, a counsellor who works with terminally ill patients in a secluded facility. As the trailer of the film reveals, there's something very cathartic that her character experiences when it encounters Aniketh, a self-confessed 'dying man' who has enrolled himself into the said facility after being diagnosed with a fatal disease. What transpires after that forms the crux of the story as we see Prerana and Aniketh forge a unique relationship that transcends the usual romance and love witnessed in cinema.
Siri Ravikumar would, of course, replace the film's producer and original cast member Ramya who felt that a newcomer would do better justice to Raj's story. When OTTplay quizzed the writer-director about what he spotted in Siri, he said,
"She is a fantastic actor. One, of course, I saw her in Sakutumba Sametha and she has done a great job in that film. Another film of hers that I happened to watch is the yet-to-be-released film Abracadabra, which is a Rakshit Shetty production. She is really good in that film as well. Casting her in Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye was an easy decision because the moment I saw her perform, I wished to work with her."
"And with good actors, all you need is to see them in a scene or two and you know they will be able to bring to the table. Alongside, if something were to go wrong, you have enough faith in yourself and your team to know that the performance can be extracted from them. The moment Siri came on board, the film actually became better and I could say that it has become beautiful poetry because of her."
Raj B Shetty also discloses that while Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye features two protagonists (he plays the other lead 'Aniketh' in the film), the story or the journey we get to see is Prerana's. He also refrains from calling his film a 'romance drama' or a love story because, at the heart of it, he regards it as an exploration of several facets of life including love, loneliness and even death. Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye is out in theatres on November 24th. Here's the trailer of the film:
