‘Evil always wins’: Bramayugam director Rahul Sadasivan

After setting the box office on fire, Rahul Sadasivan’s Bramayugam, an experimental horror thriller shot entirely in black and white, is now streaming on SonyLiv. In the film, Mammootty plays Kodumon Potti, a Brahmin patriarch with a secret. He lives in a dilapidated mansion with two other pivotal characters – his cook (Sidharth Bharathan) and Thevan (Arjun Ashokan), a low-caste folk singer. The chaathan and yakshi, stock characters from Kerala folklore, also play important roles in the film.

Deceptively simple in its narrative style, Bramayugam provides a commentary on power structures and the human desire to control and oppress those below them in the hierarchy. In this interview, director Rahul Sadasivan, whose previous horror film Bhoothakaalam (2022) won actor Revathy her first Kerala State Film Award, speaks about his love for the genre, the ideas in Bramayugam and the multiple readings that have emerged from it. Edited excerpts from the interview:

What draws you to the horror genre? Which horror films do you keep returning to?

I love the genre, but I don’t know why. I keep returning to Alfred Hitchcock and Manoj Night Shyamalan’s films. I enjoy telling stories in this space. I also love Manichitrathazhu (1993) and Ram Gopal Varma’s films of this genre. I like making horror films that don’t have just a flat story. It’s fun when people discover layers in it on a rewatch. When I bring some realism into the genre, it becomes more relatable and rooted for the audience.

There are many stories about the chaathan in Kerala folklore. There are people who worship the chaathan, and people who identify with its oppression, too. While writing, what was the character arc you wanted to give your chaathan?

The chaathan demands freedom but it’s locked in its own realm. How do I tell a story breaking the pattern? How do I deceive the audience? I did that using Mammootty’s character, by seeing how long I could stretch the character and keep the tension in the screenplay. The chaathan here isn’t based entirely on the chaathan in Kerala folklore. It’s a different account. To be frank, the idea came from Little Red Riding Hood. How someone takes another’s identity, exploits the situation and toys with their freedom.

The posters with Mammootty created a massive interest in the film before it came out. How did you decide on his look?

I had a sketch for the character already. Arun from Aesthetic Kunjamma did the design, and the posters helped me reach a wide audience. We wanted a minimalist design, and went with a monochromatic look because too many colours can be distracting. The film too has a very minimalistic style.

There’s been some criticism about the chaathan eating meat. Some have said it’s a stereotypical association of meat with evil. What did you wish to convey through the scene?

The chaathan in Kerala folklore is often drinking toddy and eating meat. This is a character who has no real emotions. It bursts into anger and suddenly becomes calm, depending on what the situation demands. I wanted to place a few clues for the audience to identify who the chaathan is, so I went with what would be familiar to them.

It’s the scene when the chaathan is chewing betel leaves – a habit associated with Namboothiris – that the cook tells Thevan that the chaathan is inhuman.

Yes, that is shown in a subtle way, but I don’t want to elaborate on it (laughs).

Why did you decide on Sidharth Bharathan and Arjun Ashokan for those roles? 

Arjun Ashokan has very powerful eyes, and I knew I would be able to draw out the mannerisms of his character from him. I’d fixed Mammootty and Arjun Ashokan for these roles and I was wondering who’d fit into the cook’s role. Since there are only three main characters, I wanted someone fresh for the role. Someone in my team suggested Sidharth’s name. I met him and I immediately felt that he would be apt for the role. The way he speaks and moves his body is very suitable for such a role that has mysterious shades to it.

I’ve revealed very limited information about the cook’s character in the film. From what we know, he’s had a very bad childhood. He was born to a low caste mother, and he aspires for a better life. The only way for him to achieve that is to conquer what comes under his power. He wants revenge for how he has been treated. The reason I kept the information about him scarce is because I wanted the audience to have multiple interpretations. There is a scene when the chaathan appears as his father to gain a psychological advantage over him, but the cook understands what he’s doing and fights back.

Amalda Liz makes for a very striking yakshi. She doesn’t have any dialogue though. Why?

The whole yakshi sequence in the first 10 minutes was to establish the setting, to tell the audience that this is the world that I’m building and that these are my characters. Once that is done, I don’t have to re-establish the mode of the film. The second time she comes is when she gets intimate with Potti. I have sprinkled some clues to suggest that this could be a dream, a trauma that Thevan is experiencing. He wakes up the next day. I didn’t want to give any clarity around what actually happens. I didn’t want to tell anything from her perspective because the story is packed with these three characters and anything further would damage its structure. I also think that’s why the yakshi has become so effective though she’s there for only five-six minutes.

If you didn’t have a superstar like Mammootty on board, would you have still shot the film in black and white?

If I didn’t have Mammootty on board, I wouldn’t have made this film at all. The character was designed for him. It’s been a dream for me to work with him. The format of shooting in black and white with Mammootty was always in my mind. I wanted to do a Mammootty film with a period setting. I thought of this even before I considered doing Bramayugam.

We’ve seen Mammootty doing characters with negative shades earlier, and yet the way he plays the role here was so unique. As a director who observed him closely, what do you think is his process?

I got to see Mammootty playing the character only while shooting, but we used to share a lot of ideas on how to play this character in this particular genre that he hasn’t done before. On the first day of shoot, I observed his dialogue delivery, the manner in which he moves, everything was very different from what we have seen him do in negative roles earlier. Many things add to it. The setting, the dialogues written for the character, the storytelling, all of this helps. As an actor, he knows the complexity of the role – what he looks like on the outside and who is actually inside him. That aspect also had to be shown. It’s just magic to watch him do it.

The film ends with the Portuguese entering the scene, and the chaathan escaping in Thevan’s form. There have been a number of discussions on what that means, particularly since Thevan is from a low caste. What did you want to say with that devilish smile?

It’s simple – evil always wins. From the moment of the gunshot that you hear when the Portuguese enter the scene, the film becomes realistic. The chaathan takes Thevan’s form because I wanted to say that all good things die but evil continues. When the Portuguese come in, there is a transfer of power from one kind of hierarchy to another.

You don’t explain everything in your films, be it Bhoothakaalam or Bramayugam. That gives rise to many readings. Do you engage with these interpretations?

Yes. Once people start interpreting the layers, they become a part of the film. It’s inside their heads for a couple more days. I enjoy that process. I don’t have to tell the complete story. I can sprinkle information here and there, and they create the rest of it according to how they view the film.

February was a bumper month at the box office, and people were making ‘Premayugam Boys’ memes. Did you get a chance to watch Premalu and Manjummel Boys?

Not yet, but I’m planning to watch them this week. It’s been an awesome month for Malayalam cinema. Bramayugam was an experimental film, and people still found it to be a great experience. I think this will give writers encouragement to open new doors and break the pattern instead of telling the same story again and again.