Veteran filmmaker Shaji Kailas has looked back at the making of ‘Red Chillies’ and shared why he believes the 2009 action thriller failed to connect with audiences. Despite generating good hype before its release, the film did not perform as expected at the box office.Speaking in a recent interview with Club FM, the director revealed that the original concept of ‘Red Chillies’ was very different from what eventually appeared on screen. According to him, the screenplay underwent major changes after Mohanlal became available for a longer shooting schedule.Shaji Kailas admitted that those last-minute changes altered the foundation of the story and ultimately affected the film’s overall impact.
Team asked for only Mohanlal’s voice
Explaining how the project evolved, Shaji Kailas revealed that Mohanlal’s character, OMR, was initially designed as a limited role that would only be heard over telephone conversations.Recalling the incident, the director said, “OMR was originally a character meant to appear for just two days. In fact, he was supposed to exist only through telephone conversations. That’s how we initially approached Lal. We only asked for his voice. But Lal said, ‘No, I’ll come in person. Let’s do it.’Even then, we told him that two days would be enough. Around that time, one of his shoots in China got postponed. He then told us, ‘I’m free now.'”The unexpected change in Mohanlal’s schedule gave the filmmakers an opportunity to expand his role, but it also led to significant changes in the screenplay.
How the story changed during production
Shaji Kailas explained that Mohanlal eventually spent nine days on the project instead of the originally planned two-day commitment.He said, “I immediately informed Sajan. We somehow managed to extend it and ended up shooting with him for nine days. We had gone to him asking only for his voice, but instead, he spent nine days with us. Naturally, the character had to change. In the process, we broke the very foundation of the story. Since we had him for nine days, we expanded his role. That meant we had to cut down several other portions of the film.”According to the director, the screenplay had to be reshaped quickly in order to make full use of Mohanlal’s unexpected availability.
Shaji Kailas says the rewrite hurt the film
The director admitted that expanding Mohanlal’s role resulted in hurried writing, which affected the final product.He added, “We had to make use of his availability because he had given us those dates. So we added several more scenes for Lal. Those scenes were written in a hurry, and that affected the film as a whole.”‘Red Chillies’, released in 2009, featured Mohanlal in the lead role and was mounted on a large scale. However, despite high expectations, it failed to achieve the commercial success many had anticipated.Meanwhile, Shaji Kailas’ latest directorial venture, ‘Varavu’, has now been released in theatres. The film stars Joju George in the lead role.