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Mathew Thomas responds to criticism of his ‘overacting' in Bromance: ‘When I approached the character of Binto…'

For actor Mathew Thomas, collaborations with director Arun D Jose have played a key role in his career growth. From the filmmaker's debut movie Jo and Jo (2022) to later projects like Journey of Love 18+ (2023), Samadhana Pusthakam (2024) — in which Arun served only as one of the co-writers — and Bromance (2025), each film has contributed to Mathew's fame and also helped him hone his craft. Even in their latest movie, Bromance, he played a character, Binto Varghese, that required him to take on fresh challenges, including performing a full-fledged action set piece involving many characters. However, unlike their previous ventures, Mathew's performance in Bromance was not well-received, particularly his portrayal of Binto's outbursts as he struggles with anger management. While he is elated at the movie's success, Mathew has not turned a blind eye to the feedback. In an exclusive conversation with SCREEN, he addressed the criticism in depth and shared his perspective on what might have gone wrong. Also Read | Javed Akhtar on why Indian actors don't speak up against govt: 'There was no income tax raid on Meryl Streep…' Opening up about his frequent collaborations with director Arun D Jose, Mathew Thomas says, 'I met him for the first time on the sets of Prakashan Parakkatte. He was the chief associate director on that project. Jo and Jo came along almost a year later. Our friendship didn't start with the idea of working together one day; it developed naturally. By the time we did Jo and Jo, we had become good friends. In the case of Journey of Love 18+, I wasn't a part of the project initially. But eventually, they needed a character like mine and considered me. That's how I ended up joining the project. In the case of Bromance, however, I was part of it from the beginning. Nonetheless, it's not like we decided to do it just because I was available. Things just fell into place. We are good friends even otherwise; he is like a brother to me.' 'There's a lot of comfort in working with him. When collaborating with him or with friends in general, that project will have an extra layer of specialness in our hearts. Also, there's more freedom to experiment. If something doesn't work, there's room to try again. That would also give us encouragement to try new things. These are some of the benefits I have gotten as a performer when I'm working with Arun,' he adds. Interestingly, Mathew tried several new things for the first time in Bromance, including full-fledged action sequences. When asked about the most challenging aspect of playing his character, Binto, the actor shares, 'Both the action and dance sequences were tough, to be honest. Although 18+ also required me to dance in one scene, that was more fun, unlike the one in Bromance, which was quite challenging for me. The fight scenes weren't a cakewalk either.' 'The most challenging part for me, however, was handling Binto's intense anger moments,' Mathew admits. He continues, 'The scenes showing his actions and reactions when his blood pressure rises were particularly tricky. After contemplating how to place it and what the right metre should be, we finally reached a consensus and shot one or two scenes in that style. The entire crew, including myself, was happy with the performance style we had zeroed in on. But after the film's release, it didn't land well with most viewers, and some even felt I had overacted. Even now, after the OTT release of the movie, I feel that portraying those anger-filled moments was the hardest part for me.' Considering that his performance had received a tad bit more appreciation and recognition while Bromance was running in theatres, but it was completely panned following the movie's OTT release, we asked if the diverse viewing experience each platform offers might have played a role in this. Mathew, however, opined that the differences between the two platforms, theatres and OTTs, played no role in this. 'It's not like a flaw of the platform or owing to the two's differences. Because at the end of the day, what you watch in theatres and on an OTT platform is the same thing. Sure, some films may look better on the big screen and the audience watching it together might make a difference in comparison to watching it alone. Other than that, the size of the screen and all play no role.' 'In the case of Bromance, I think it was a mistake in the performance, or more specifically, a misjudgment in the tone we should have maintained. We decide whether to tone a performance up or down, right? In this case, it was a lapse in that judgment. When I approached the character of Binto, based on the brief I received, I planned to show that when he gets angry, he goes all out. So much so that even he doesn't realise what he's doing, and he acts purely on impulse. His anger is intense and extreme.' 'So when I tried that out, I felt it worked, and the others agreed. Based on that, we decided to go full-on. Also, the scenes themselves were caricatured in nature, so our thought was: if it appears very bad, let it be. But we should have considered how it would look visually, especially on a big screen. Even if it's just an angry outburst, it could have been portrayed more cleanly or toned down a bit. Honestly, it was a problem with both the performance and the judgment behind it,' Mathew Thomas adds. Also starring Arjun Ashokan, Sangeeth Prathap, Mahima Nambiar, Shyam Mohan, Kalabhavan Shajohn and Bharath Bopanna, Bromance is now streaming on SonyLIV. Anandu Suresh is a Senior sub-editor at Indian Express Online. He specialises in Malayalam cinema, but doesn't limit himself to it and explores various aspects of the art form. He also pens a column titled Cinema Anatomy, where he delves extensively into the diverse layers and dimensions of cinema, aiming to uncover deeper meanings and foster continuous discourse. Anandu previously worked with The New Indian Express' news desk in Hyderabad, Telangana. You can follow him on Twitter @anandu_suresh_ and write (or send movie recommendations) to him at ... Read More