Galatta Plus Mega Malayalam Roundtable 2023, a celebration of Malayalam cinema talent, was hosted recently by National Award-winning film critic Baradwaj Rangan, the Editor-in-Chief of Galatta Plus, with Oscar-winning sound designer Resul Pookutty (Slumdog Millionaire), filmmakers Mahesh Narayanan (Malik) and Basil Joseph (Minnal Murali), actors Kunchacko Boban (Pada, Nna Thaan Case Kodu, and 2018) and Rajisha Vijayan (June, Love, Karnan, and Sardar), and producer Sophia Paul (RDX: Robert Dony Xavier).
During the discussion, producer Sophia Paul goes on to explain how she approaches zeroing in on a script, with Resul Pookutty chiming in saying how he can't understand the Malayali audiences. Resul queries Sophia about what was her conviction to spend money on making a bigger action film with RDX after Minnal Murali, and the risks involved, with the hit producer responding by saying, "It's the Onam festival. During Onam, we need more movies. Not one movie. Our audience is used to watching many movies during Onam. Even I watch 2-3 movies. Our audience has the practice of watching all the movies during the festival. In that way, I wanted my movie there. Only my production team was there and my director was very scared. He said, 'Ma'am, please, after Onam, you release this.' But, I said, 'No, I'll release this during Onam as I had spent a lot and I had to get the returns."
Director Mahesh Narayanan too joined in on the conversation and said, "There's also one more thing to add to that. If one film runs well, the other film will always get an advantage because the viewing habits will slowly change. This has always happened in Malayalam. If one film is a super hit and the other one is average, it will run well." Academy Award-winning sound designer-filmmaker Resul Pookutty then pitched in saying, "What I found with the Malayalam audiences, which I can't understand them, they will enjoy one Vijay's film, one Allu Arjun's film, or a Rajinikanth film, and they will give their full heart. They will be out in 400-500 theatres and they'll enjoy, and give crores of rupees. If one Malayalam actor goes out of their expectation, they will just kill it. They will not accept. It's very, very strange the Malayali audience."
Watch the Galatta Plus Mega Malayalam Roundtable 2023 in the video below:
