Valatty director Devan: Had Soubin Shahir and Ranjini Haridas in mind even while I was scripting

Contrary to the usual challenges of filmmaking, finding actors to play the parts for his debut film was not too much of a task, for debutant director Devan. His movie, Valatty: The Tale of Tails, had dogs essaying the main characters and getting popular actors to voice them was a much easier task than shooting the movie with the animals.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, Devan reveals how he went about choosing the actors to voice its canine characters including a Golden Retriever, a Cocker Spaniel, a Labrador, a dog of an indigenous breed, a Rottweiler and even a rooster. For the uninitiated, Roshan Mathew, Raveena Ravi, Indrans, Soubin Shahir, Sunny Wayne and Aju Varghese lent their voice to the respective characters.

Also read: Valatty director Devan: We had to devise new tricks to get various reactions from the dogs 

“When I was scripting the movie itself, I had a lot of actors in mind. For instance, Soubin and Ranjini Haridas were names we had in mind from the start,” Devan says. “We couldn’t cast a lot of the others we had planned. But then in movies, when you don’t get the person who you initially think would suit the role, you go to the next best option.” Soubin has given the voice of Karidas in the film, while Rajini voices Margaret.

The filmmaker, who had spent over three and half years on the project, says that he is delighted about how the film, which is set to hit theatres on July 21, has eventually turned out.

On how he approached the respective actors, the director says, “All the actors came onboard after watching the film. We had shown the actors a version with a pilot track. So, we were all more than happy to come onboard. After the dubbing, I felt that nobody else’s voice suited any of the characters than the ones who had dubbed for them. That’s how good each of them were.”

Also read: Waiting for Valatty & Neymar's release? Revisit these unforgettable dog films on Hotstar, Jio Cinema and Netflix 

Valatty: The Tale of Tails is set to hit theatres in Malayalam on July 21 and will release in other languages on July 28. Talking about the film, the director says that it’s a feel-good movie that children as well as those who have “innocence in their hearts and minds” would enjoy.

“Dogs have an innocence about them and so, this film would appeal to anyone who carries that innocence in their minds, irrespective of their age,” Devan concludes.