‘Narivetta' writer Abin Joseph interview: On how the story of the Tovino Thomas-starrer was about tracking the hero's journey

The Hindu

4 hours ago

With Narivetta, Abin Joseph, yet another writer, makes his feature film debut. The film, directed by Anuraj Manohar, stars Tovino Thomas, Suraj Venjaramoodu, and Tamil actor Cheran in lead roles. The film, a bildungsroman of sorts, follows the journey of an unemployed young man, Varghese Peter, as he finds himself over the course of the film. While Abin's short stories and novellas have been published in leading Malayalam magazines, Narivetta, he says, fulfils a long-held dream. Kallisseri Thesis, his collection of short stories, was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi's Geetha Hiranyan Endowment and the Sahitya Akademi's Yuva Puraskar (2020).
Edited excerpts from an interview with Abin.
How did you come to write the story of Narivetta?
I had an idea for a story about a young man with dreams and ambitions for himself, but does not want to take on responsibilities. This person, at one particular juncture in life, has to take on a job that he does not like. Especially something like policing, which is a tough job. He lands up there at a point of crisis — a plot point — for which I thought of several options. But they were all typically investigations or murder mystery kind of storylines. Instead, I thought of weaving in a social cause. Thus, I reached the idea of bringing in some kind of a social crisis and a cop posted at the site of a brewing conflict — in this case, strike by tribal people for land.
How did you and Anuraj come to collaborate?
I have known Anuraj before he made Ishq. He had called to ask if I had stories that could be made into a film. Though I was already a published short story writer, I did not have any stories that could be made into a film. Nor did I seriously make any attempts to get into films. When he reached out after Ishq, I was in the process of writing a couple of stories for films. But I did not have stories that were convincing enough either, so I did not call him back. In 2020, when my novella Koorginji was published in a magazine, Anuraj called me and said, 'let's make a film.' We tossed about a couple of ideas. That is when I got the idea for Narivetta. We spoke and decided to go ahead with the project.
You are a writer. How is this form of writing (for cinema) different from literature? How did you approach it?
I have been primarily writing short stories and novellas; writing for films and scripting is very different. That said, there are similarities too. When it comes to writing, say, a screenplay, one is writing with a clear idea of the form. There are technical aspects, and beyond that, the 'size' [of the film] is important. A screenplay will have many 'moments' and characters, unlike a short story or a novella, which may not have as many elements. A short story does not have to be a large canvas; it can be small, personal, and without too much action. A screenplay, however, has to have action — that is the basic difference of form. I approach these with a clear notion of the medium (scripting), that this is to be made into a movie for an audience who will watch it and engage with it. A short story or a novel, however, does not have these restrictions.
A writer can take liberties with the medium — keep the tempo slow and experiment with the narrative style. We can do the same with movies, but at the end of the day, a movie still has to be engaging. Unlike literature, it does not demand that we keep the audience on tenterhooks with expectation. There is freedom. A script is all about 'what to shoot'. The 'how to shoot' is the director's vision. But what to shoot is on the writer. I approached it with a clear notion about how it should be. Then there are the dialogues. I enjoy writing dialogues, be it for short stories or films. However, the metre has to go with the story and the situation.
Your approach vis-a-vis the subject. You were a journalist. Did that influence you or impact your research?
Honestly, for Narivetta, I did not do a lot of research. The reason was that neither were we recreating history nor were we documenting it. We were travelling with the protagonist, Varghese Peter, as he goes through life and arrives at this historical event, which we have referenced. I was more focused on this character's journey, emotional and otherwise. I did not dig deep by way of research into what happened at the time because information overload would distract from the focus of the script, diluting the storytelling. So, I just stuck to basic research, and because I wanted it to be a good film, I have taken some cinematic liberties. That is all.
How much time did you spend on the writing? Were there inputs from Anuraj?
Anuraj is not the kind of director who discusses each aspect scene by scene. After listening to the story, he will tell you his directorial vision. It is not a scene or dialogue. Instead, he will tell you what he would like to get from a particular scene. He is a director who has a vision about the film, which is probably why he is able to communicate like that. What that does to a writer is that it affords you freedom and responsibility as well.
Once I got an idea about the subject and the characters, it took six to seven days to write the first draft of the screenplay. A change we made before the shoot was making the narrative non-linear; the progression was linear initially. We added some scenes, did some rewriting, rewrote the dialogues to make them crisper — these are all part of the process of making a film.
As a writer what was the difficult part of the process?
More than writing a story or screenplay, the difficult part of the process is the project materialising and becoming a movie. You can write a story if you lock yourself up and sit in a room, but for a screenplay to become a film, you need a director, a producer or an actor. I am talking about commercial films. All these factors have to come together. Then, once it is released after post-production, it becomes a movie. That is the difficult part of the process. That is perhaps the challenge of making a commercial film. I don't know if 'academic' films face the same challenges. The journey of a commercial film is to collect for the producer. That is the difficult part, in my opinion.
When did cinema become a part of your plan?
Cinema has always been part of my wishes and aspirations. I was in school when I realised I wanted to be a writer; my stories were published in popular magazines, and during school youth festivals, my short stories won prizes. Though at that point I wanted to be a writer, a part of me wanted to be a part of cinema too. But due to my circumstances, I could not chase that ambition. I worked as a journalist with newspapers; life was going on like this when I got the call to do my first film.
I quit my job; at that point, I had a few film stories and films which did not start. I could have done something else, you can write even if you are in another job. But I wanted to be part of the movies. I try to watch one film a day or at least an episode of a series.
I was in Class II when we bought a television set in my house. This was the late 1990s, I would watch these black and white movies. I still remember watching these films. Cinema was a passion in those days. I would tell my classmates the stories of the films I watched. Today, when I look back, I can't help but think that cinema has nourished the storyteller in me. Not everybody had a television at home. Those days, there were cassettes with the soundtrack of the movies, or on the radio. So it was a ritual to watch a movie and narrate the story to my friends. Maybe it was through films that the idea of storytelling came to me.
This could have easily become a documentary-type of a film. What precautions did you take?
Honestly, we did not think of it that way. Like I said earlier, the storytelling was following the character that we had created. I have tried to bring, through my writing, the emotional journey of the character, his life as he faces and overcomes challenges and crises. Weave in the situations, build the other characters. That is all that I have tried to bring.
I believe the film has an element of mystery that arouses curiosity. The attempt has been to approach the character and subject with utmost integrity. That I think is the most genuine and pure form of storytelling. We have not included anything for the sake of it; we have tried to keep it organic with the action following the hero's journey. Which, I feel, enabled a more organic filmmaking for the director.
A writer's job is, usually, quiet and low profile while movies are more public…how are you handling the attention?
(Laughs) That is a good question. We writers, generally, like to keep a low profile, inhabit a quiet space. I am 100% like that. Going out in public to meet people [in the context of films], interviews etc, makes me self-conscious. However, as a short story writer, I participate in literary events and discussions. Film promotions were back-to-back, and that is part of cinema. At the end of the day, cinema is a product — we can talk about our politics and our emotions, but eventually it is a product headed for the 'market'. We have to get the 'returns' within 'x' number of days. Secondly, if we want the movie to reach new audiences, we have to make the effort. That is the new way, not just for films but also for books, I guess. But books don't have a shelf life, unlike movies. A book's success might be inevitable, but we have to make the effort to promote a film.
What next?
What next? I have a couple of completed film scripts; Anuraj and I have discussed a couple of stories. We would like to proceed with one of those. Then there are a few others that I have thought about, made blueprints of those which I need to work more on. That is the plan for now.