Creating a believable setting was important, says director Rahul Sadasivan about the Malayalam horror thriller, ‘Bramayugam’

Rahul Sadasivan has directed the Malayalam movie Bramayugam starring Mammootty in the lead and it is a horror thriller completely shot in black and white

Bramayugam has taken the box office by storm the world over and director Rahul Sadasivan is taking in the adulation with a smile. Shot entirely in black and white, the horror thriller headlined by a terrific Mammootty is being hailed as a never-before-seen cinematic experience in Malayalam cinema. Bramayugam set in 17th-century Malabar revolves around a dilapidated mana (mansion), where the imposing Koduman Potty (Mammootty) stays with his cook (Sidharth Bharathan). Thevan (Arjun Ashokan), a member of the Panan community, arrives at the mana, while escaping from his captors. Potty gives him food and refuge but Thevan does not know what is in store for him there.

If his debut film, Red Rain (2013) was a sci-fi thriller, in his second film, Bhoothakalam (2022), Rahul scared the audience with the story of a mother and son staying in a haunted house. In Bramayugam, he blends folklore with horror and creates thrills and chills with the story, the setting and performances, supported by stunning production design, cinematography and music. Scripted by Rahul himself, the narrative is also an eerie take on power dynamics as it weaves in aspects such as greed and caste discrimination.

Rahul says that the story of Bramayugam was with him even before he made Bhoothakalam. “I wanted to tell a story from folklore. The inspiration was perhaps those images etched in my mind from my visits to my parents’ native place in Palakkad. The rural landscape with age-old ancestral houses, some of them deserted, and the ambience remained with me. I have gone back to those vignettes to write the story.”

It was the humungous success of Bhoothakalam that gave him the confidence to approach Mammootty, Rahul says. “If Bhoothakalam was a modern-day horror tale, I wanted to do something different in my next project to excite the audience. Since I wanted to tell a period drama, I knew that it had to be told in black and white. Mammootty was my only choice for the central character. I knew that only he could bring the power and enigma of that aged character on screen. Once he liked the story, we did a test shoot of one of the scenes in black and white. We worked on the grading, texture, contrast and several other aspects until we were confident about going ahead. I could never imagine Bramayugam in colour!” he emphasises.

The 72-year-old thespian has been on a roll with his choice of roles in the last couple of years and Koduman Potty is another addition to his oeuvre. “He always delivered more than what I expected. There were many scenes where he surprised all of us. His mannerisms, body language, dialogue delivery… everything was unique.”

The two other actors, Sidharth and Arjun are also getting positive reviews for their performances. “Once Mammookka was finalised, we started looking for actors to play these two key roles. Eventually the roles went to these two.”

Rahul mentions that he makes it a point to have a storyboard for his movies. “I have everything on paper before the shoot starts, for clarity on different aspects of the filmmaking process and the visual language. And I had a strong team who understood the world I created,” says the director who learnt filmmaking from London Film Academy and did his masters in animation and VFX from University of South Wales.