Interview | Director Anand Menen: ‘Vaazha’ worked for the audience because of its relatability

Director Anand Menen talks about Vaazha: Biopic of a Billion Boys which is about a group of youngsters

These days Vaazha, the plantain plant, is the talk of tinseltown. Vaazha: Biopic of a Billion Boys, a slice-of-life drama revolving around the shenanigans of a group of boys, has brought in crowds to the theatres and cheer to its director Anand Menen and his team.

The title is inspired by an adage in Malayalam which says it is better to grow a plantain tree (vaazha) instead of a person considered good-for-nothing.

The film is about underachievers Ajo Thomas (Siju Sunny), Vishnu (Amith Mohan Rajeswari), Moosa (Joemon Jyothir), Abdul Kalam (Anuraj OB) and Vivek Anand (Anu Anshid), who are not in the good books of their families or teachers right from when they are kids. The coming-of-age narrative is about the challenges they face in various stages of their lives till their early 20s and their relationships with their fathers.

Anand, who debuted as a director with the feel-good movie Gauthamante Radham in 2020, says that Vaazha worked for the audience because of its relatability. “We have presented the points of view of both the youngsters and their parents with humour and a dash of satire. We have incorporated several nostalgic elements as well that which the audience enjoyed.”

However, Anand calls it the “unplanned movie of my career.” He goes on, “There has been a gap after my first film. That’s because I am someone who is not easily satisfied with scripts. I keep reworking the stories that come to me and I was almost ready to direct my next when Vipin chettan [filmmaker Vipin Das] gave me the script of Vaazha,” says Anand. Vipin has written the story, screenplay and dialogues of the movie.

Anand says that when he became friends with Vipin in 2018, the latter already had the story of Vaazha with him. “He had named it Vaazha then and had planned it as his second movie [after Mudhugauv]. But as he went on to direct other projects such as Anthakshari,Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, Vaazha was put on the backburner,” Anand points out.

The director stresses that several scenes in the movie might have happened in real life to many people. “Vipin chettan has had such experiences or might have heard it from others. Even I could relate to some of the scenes.”