Ever since the shooting of Charlie began, much has been in the news and the high expectations out of it are palpable. When news of the film came in and later when the film's trailer was released, expectations from the film have only increased. The leads are played by Dulquer Salmaan and Parvathy.
Martin Prakkat is directing his third film after Best Actor, which ran for more than 100 days in theatres, and ABCD. He shares the story of his two-year affair with Charlie:
Musical love story
Charlie is not an action-oriented film, in fact it is a romantic film; a film that can easily be summarised in one or two sentences. The name of the male lead is Charlie. The news doing the rounds in social media is all wrong. The film focuses on music and is a film sans suspense. Mammooty, Mohanlal or Prithviraj are not acting in this film.
Expectations from Charlie and Dulquer Salmaan
While it is nice to have expectations out of the film, it is concerning that too much is being expected from the film. Sometimes the gossips that do the rounds are also disconcerting. Perhaps all the hype is because of the love that people have for Dulquer Salmaan.
Dulquer has put in a lot of effort in the film and this film is very different compared to the actor's other outings. He has grown a beard and has to deal with a different slang for the film. While ABCD was very easy for Dulquer because he had been exposed to such a life, in Charlie, it is an entirely different experience. He was happy to meet challenges head on.
Choosing Parvathy
While I had planned to cast a new heroine and even went ahead with auditions, I zeroed in on Parvathy because the female lead is as important as the male lead. Parvathy has shown immense dedication and one needs to learn from her for her sincerity to films.
The magic with music
Charlie is a musical love story. Gopi Sundar has tuned the lines very beautifully and he feels that this is a milestone in his career. Malgudi Shubha would be rendering her sound to Malayalam films after Thenmaavin Kombathu in this film.
The support
Actor Joju has been the driving force behind me directing the film. Joju, Shebin Becker and I are producing the film. Were it not for Joju, someone else would have directed the film.
I am still afraid of seniors in the film industry and therefore I find it difficult to ask them for a re-shoot or a retake. However since the team in Charlie is more of a friends’ gathering, I found it easy to ask for retakes.
Those who have seen the trailer would understand that Charlie is a simple cinema. The fact that the trailer was well received shows that people are anxiously waiting for it.
The Dulquer Salman-Parvathy pair in Bangalore Days have been etched in the minds of people and considering that 2015 has been a good year for love stories, perhaps Charlie would end the year with a bang.