Kaathal The Core – How Mammootty’s inputs helped revise the heart-tugging interval scene between Mathew and Thankan | Exclusive

While there were several poignant moments in Mammootty and Jyotika’s Malayalam movie Kaathal – The Core, which is out on Amazon Prime Video, the interval sequence that showed its main characters – Mathew and Thankan – meet each other for the only time in the movie, remains the most heart-tugging sequence. The film’s director Jeo Baby tells OTTplay exclusively that Mammootty had a huge role to play in how that scene was shaped.

Mammootty has already won universal praise for playing the role of Mathew, a closeted homosexual in a loveless marriage. While many superstars would think twice about playing such a role, Mammootty had offered inputs on how to make his character and the scenes in the film even better than what was written.

Also read: Kaathal The Core director Jeo Baby: I believe the socially constructed idea of family is a failure | Exclusive 

Ask Jeo about the changes that Mammootty had suggested after its initial narration, the director tells us, “We didn’t have to change. He wouldn’t exactly tell you what to change; instead, he would lead with hints. For instance, the interval scene between Mathew (Mammootty) and Thankan (Sudhi Kozhikode) was written differently from the current version. Even then, it didn’t have any dialogues between the characters. So, Mammukka asked, ‘Can I see Thankan from a distance? Is it possible to come up with a situation where even though we are near to each other, we can’t talk. I feel I want to do that; that’s the exciting part of this’.”

Jeo also explains that as soon as he and the writers heard Mammootty’s suggestion, they immediately felt that they “should change it more than trying to convince him to do what was already written”. When the writers – Adarsh Sukumaran and Paulson Skaria – expressed their doubts, Jeo says, “I told them that was an opportunity to make this scene even better.”

Also read: Kaathal – The Core movie review - Why Mammootty, Jyothika's modern classic is a must watch? 

The filmmaker says that all three of them worked on the scene to come up with the interval sequence. “All of us contributed to bring in elements such as rain that led to the political announcement being halted midway, and then Mathew and his group entering the shop, Thankan exiting and the brochure being exchanged; only for Thankan to look at it in his car,” he says. “So, we came up with the scene, but the reason for the scene is Mammukka. Similarly, there were several other scenes where he had given us good suggestions.”

Jeo also tells us that he deliberately decided to keep dialogues between its main characters to a minimum for Kaathal – The Core. “From the outset itself, I didn’t want too many dialogues. When Mammukka heard the screenplay for the first time, he said we can reduce it even further, and we were ready for that. He told us that this is a film that could communicate even without too many dialogues and we must work for that. So, he would give us those leads,” the director explains.

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