Was excited to play a negative character: Basil

In the climax of the latest Malayalam blockbuster Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (JJJJH), the court judge finds it hard to believe an innocent-looking man like Rajesh — essayed by Basil Joseph — can be abusive to his wife. For those who haven’t watched the film, perhaps it would be hard to imagine Basil pulling off a character so vile that you can’t stop hating him.

Basil, with his affable smile and college-goer personality, rose up the ranks in Malayalam cinema with several comedic roles. But with JJJJH (which also stars a terrific Darshana Rajendran), an impactful satire on gender inequality, he has taken a huge leap as a performer. The actor, who was brilliant in the laugh riot Jan.E.Man, showed his range as an actor in ‘Palthu Janwar’, playing a naive livestock inspector forced into the job.

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Even as the actor remains busy, he is chalking a plan for his fourth directorial, after the success of the superhero film Minnal Murali. The multi-faceted artiste spoke to Showtime about his career, which is taking interesting turns. Excerpts:

In Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey (JJJJH), how did you prepare to play a misogynistic and abusive husband?

I took references from real life — I know friends and relatives with such a mindset. Majority of men will have some shades of Rajesh, who is a male chauvinist, in them. It’s just that, the intensity of behaviour varies from person to person.

I was very excited to play a negative character, instead of being a boy next door who has an innocent vibe. I had been wanting to play this kind of a character. Also, mind you, people had to not just hate him but also laugh at him. For the most part, the story runs from his perspective. So it was fun to strike that balance between those two shades of my character.

Kerala has the highest literacy rate in India. Yet, we continue to see realistic stories of domestic violence and suppression of women in Malayalam films. Doesn’t education teach one to be progressive?

Education might help people change. But social conditioning and norms have existed for ages and people get influenced by them. People are raised like that. They are told from a young age that ‘girls are meant to behave in a certain way and boys must do certain things’. But it’s good to see people accept Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey. That’s a sign of progressiveness. If they were whistling for a hero before, today they are ready to whistle for a heroine. They are intelligent enough to know that society isn’t without serious problems. Women have loved the film. After a special show recently, women were so thrilled that they danced with the film crew at 2 am.

Did a sensitive film like Palthu Janwar change you as a person?

I am someone who is scared of animals, especially dogs and cats. I don’t think I am any different after the film. But if you take the climax scene, where I handle a complicated calving case, I think it captured the core theme of the film ‘every life is precious’ brilliantly. I was moved while performing the scene. I am a more empathetic person to all lives now, and not just to humans. It happens when you fully get into a character.

After the success of ‘Minnal Murali’, you could have moved on to another big project as a director. But you are currently busy as an actor...

It’s a tricky challenge to crack. If I direct, I will have to take a gap from my acting career. Because, as a director, you need a year at least for writing and pre-production. And when you are acting, especially in lead roles, it’s tough to direct.

I cannot let myself get distracted and sucked into the idea of a big project under a huge banner. I now have some time to understand the pulse of the audience, and observe what type of films are doing well. If I do a big film for the sake of it, then it will end up being a ‘project’ and not a ‘movie’. That’s the difference. I prefer to work on an idea, upskill myself and sit with writers to expand the thought. Then it could end up as something special. So the idea of ‘big’ must evolve organically. For now, my acting assignments have helped me become financially stable.

There is an overflow of Malayalam films across platforms. How does one stand out from the crowd?

If your content is good, people will definitely lap it up. That’s happened with my films like Jan.E.Man, Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and Palthu Janwar. You need to be selective with your scripts and the director in me helps me do that. Apart from that, right from the conception stage till it reaches the theatres, you have to promote the film well. There is no point in just doing a good movie. That’s the reason why we did that reel for Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and it went viral.