Roshan Mathew: On every set, people talk to me about Malayalam films

Roshan Mathew, whose movie Paradise is premièring at MAMI Film Festival, on juggling Malayalam and Hindi cinema

By now, Roshan Mathew is accustomed to his films going to international festivals. Weeks after his relationship drama Paradise won accolades at Busan International Film Festival, it is set to première at the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. Mathew remembers instinctively being drawn to the Malayalam-Sinhala-English film, but he also had a concern.

“I liked the script, but to me, it also felt similar to the couple’s story in my Hindi debut, Choked [2020]. There are no [striking] similarities, except that both films explored the differences between a couple. But I liked the script so much that I wanted to do it anyway,” says the actor. A meeting with revered Sri Lankan director Prassana Vithanage was all it took to assuage his concerns. “I realised he was intending to do something so different from what I was thinking that all of my concerns were invalid. He wanted to explore the relationship between this couple and the land they end up in.”

A still from Paradise

Mathew will follow up Paradise with the Hindi offering, Ulajh. The actor, who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, is finding his feet in Hindi movies with Choked, Darlings (2022) and the upcoming Janhvi Kapoor and Gulshan Devaiah-starrer. The choice to work across languages brings with it the opportunity to collaborate with diverse actors and tell varied stories. “Ulajh moves at a pace that I haven’t explored before; it is an out-and-out commercial film. Gulshan is an actor, who has inspired me with several of his characters. So, I was excited about him being there. Jahnvi is a dedicated, hardworking and passionate co-actor. She was extremely prepared. It’s lovely when you know your co-actor has one priority and that is to get the best version of the scene on that day.”

While working on Bollywood projects, it hasn’t escaped him how Hindi-speaking viewers have warmed up to Malayalam cinema. “Every time I am on the set of a Hindi project, lots of people walk up to me and instantly start talking about the Malayalam films that they have watched. It’s a great feeling. Malayalam cinema is in a great phase right now,” says the actor, who has featured in acclaimed Malayalam films like Kappela, Moothon, and C U Soon.

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