Somehow, the quietness of Althaf Salim does not come as a surprise. It is nearly expected, it fits him. He looks the same, two years after Premam. Dipping a tea bag into hot water, Althaf looks up with a slow smile that never leaves his young face. He is waiting to hear the same line that nearly everyone he knows has been asking him — ‘Are you really the director of Njandukalude Naattil Oridavela?’ The schoolboy frame does it again. And Althaf appears too tired to repeat, it is not his looks that did the movie, it is his script. A script he co-wrote with George Kora, another actor from Premam. The success of Njandukal, his first film, has not brought on a killer effect on him. He shrugs it off and says a good script could bring good results. He is happy, no doubt, but he is not letting the success go to his head.
“We had thought of a few subjects, cancer was one of them,” Althaf says.
It is his light-hearted treatment of such a subject that brought so much of attention to Njandukal. “I have always liked humour,” he explains it in one-line. Most of his answers end in a line, and if you are lucky, two. But he is not like that with his pals.
Friends like Siju, Kichu, Mukesh, Sharafudeen and Nivin — all of whom were part of Njandukal. Mukesh is the cameraman, the rest are actors, Nivin playing the lead. “Siju, Kichu, Mukesh and I went to the same school in Aluva. Nivin went there too from LKG to class IV, but he was my senior,” he says.
The Premam team repeats. Althaf knew Alphonse Puthren, Premam’s director, for a long time. He had not been keen to act, but when Alphonse suggested it, he became the schoolboy pal of Anupama Parameswaran in Premam. He acted with Nivin again in Sakhavu. He will act again in Mandakini, by Jenith Kachappilly. But his dream has been direction — since school.
So, after taking a B.Tech degree, he began working in ad films. He’d take trips to Chennai where he worked with Alphonse in short films. When it came to his own film, he roped in some of his friends. But he strayed out of comfort zone, bringing in veteran actor Shanthi Krishna to play the lead.
“We saw an interview of hers and it struck us that she’d perform the character of Sheela beautifully. We sent her the script and she asked, ‘Are you sure I can pull this off’ and I said ‘Yes’.” The story drafts worked for actor Lal too. Ahaana Krishnan was the suggestion of his AD Kurian. Aishwarya Lekshmi became Nivin’s pair, and Srindaa, his sister. They all came together for a rehearsal camp in Edappally before the shooting began, mingled, and the ‘Chacko family’ of Njandukal found a rapport, began texting and calling each other.
Perhaps, Althaf had the slightest bit of anxiety on his approach of treating pathos without sentiments, how the audience would take it. But he was sure after talking to doctors and patients that the stigma associated with cancer had to go. Looks like his plan worked.
