I design the content of my movies, says Malayalam director Krishand

Krishand’s new movie Purusha Pretham, a police procedural comedy, releases on SonyLIV on March 24

Expectations are high as film director Krishand, with two state-award-winning films to his credit for Vrithakrithiyilulla Chathuram (2019) and Avasavyuham (2021), releases his third movie, Purusha Pretham, on March 24 on SonyLIV.

In a pre-release interview, the director says that the film is a “police procedural comedy in the crime noir cinema template of the West. But it has a Kerala milieu and is told in a humorous way.”

Krishand heard Manu Thodupuzha’s story from scriptwriter Ajith Haridas long before he made Vrithakrithiyilulla Chathuram. “Ajith had plans to direct it then. But I had told him that if at all he finds it difficult to helm, I would take it up. Eventually, I got that chance in 2018. The script had to be reworked,” says Krishand.

The trailer hints at an unidentified corpse, a pretham, which could mean a dead body or a ghost in Malayalam. Pretham is the official term for a dead body used by the Kerala Police. Sub-Inspector Sebastian, or Super Sebastian as he is called, heads the investigation. “While Ajith’s priority in the script was problems faced by the marginalised, I saw other possibilities. Every human system is built on hierarchy and equality doesn’t actually work for our survival. These aspects were combined and I worked out a narrative that has end-to-end humour,” he explains.

Humour has been a constant in his movies. “That’s because it works with the audience. Our films usually have humour that comes from punch dialogues or slapstick comedy. Purusha Pretham has comedy arising from dialogues, slapstick, subtle humour, the music etc. The attempt has been to make the narrative as entertaining as possible so as to make the dark theme – ghosts, dead bodies etc – palatable for the audience,” he says.

Prasanth Alexander, slowly evolving as a bankable character actor, plays the protagonist. “He is a fabulous actor. However, nobody was willing to invest in a film headlined by him,” Krishand says. Prasanth himself stepped in as a producer and also brought in Einstin Media (Einstin Zac Paul). Jeo Baby, who was impressed with Avasavyuham, came on board with his producers from Mankind Cinemas. Symmetry Cinema (Vishnu Rajan and Sajin Raj) also joined in. “I was given a free go and there was no interference from them. We sold the film [to SonyLIV] and the problem was solved,” Krishand says.

Darshana Rajendran, Jagadeesh, Mala Parvathy and Devaki Rajendran, besides several artistes from his previous films, such as Rahul Rajagopal and Zhinz Shan are in the cast.