Thanks to Thiruvananthapuram, movies became a passion. Rendezvous with a whole lot of people from the industry, the film festivals and the film enthusiasts made movies dear to him. However, Mahesh Narayanan never thought that he would become what he is today. He has made his way to become one of the busiest editors out there. A compliment which he would brush aside with a hearty laugh.
“I never thought about becoming an editor. Of course, films were always there on my mind, especially during my Pre Degree (Government Arts College) and Degree (University College) days. And I wanted to become a cinematographer, not an editor,” says Mahesh. That was the reason he applied to three film institutes for the course after completing his graduation, while doing an internship with the Kairali channel. The call came from Adyar Film Institute. “But I got a seat for editing, which was totally unexpected. However, once I joined and my course began, I fell into the groove,” he says.
And now you know him as the editor of many commercially successful Malayalam movies like ‘Pokkiri Raja’, ‘Karyasthan’, ‘Seniors’, and ‘Traffic’. Simultaneously, he has worked on several offbeat ventures such as ‘Rathrimazha’, ‘Makaramanju’, ‘Karayilekku Oru Kadal Dooram’, ‘Athmakatha’.... Also, he has some big projects lined up for release - Mohanlal’s ‘Casanova’, Dileep’s ‘Mr Marumagan’ and Anoop Menon-Jayasurya’s ‘Beautiful’. He is also part of one of the much-talked about projects, about which, however, he is not allowed to reveal anything yet.
Mahesh had started off with documentaries. He used to assist some of the leading names in Chennai. Back home he worked with C S Venkiteswaran, Manilal, R Sharath and now has some 40 documentaries to his credit.
His tryst with movies started with Lenin Rajendran’s ‘Rathrimazha’. “In fact, editor Ajith was supposed to do the project. But he was busy and so I replaced him.” Then came Shaji N Karun’s docu-fiction ‘AKG’, in which he replaced Ajith, yet again.
Mahesh has done a large number of ad films and has had a close association with V K Prakash and Rajiv Menon on this account. His rapport with V K Prakash got carried over to the latter’s movies as well, starting with his Hindi movie ‘Phir Kabhi’ and Malayalam movies like ‘Positive’, ‘Gulumaal’, ‘Three Kings’ and the upcoming ‘Beautiful’.
Commercial success came his way with Vaisakh’s ‘Pokkiri Raja’, starring Mammootty and Prithviraj. “The interesting part is that around the same time I was working on Lenin sir’s ‘Makaramanju’ as well. You can imagine the strain I must have felt, since these movies belong to two different genres,” he says. Mahesh worked in Vaisakh’s superhit work ‘Seniors’ as well.
He admits that it was ‘Traffic’ which brought a new perspective to him as an editor. “It had a multi-narrative style. The script was terrific and it is one movie which gave me both immense strain and satisfaction. In fact, I was a bit scared while editing the movie. One of its scriptwriters, Sanjay, had given the pattern of parallel incidents which was shuffled a bit during editing. We were quite nervous about how that would work. There was this crucial portion shot on Anoop Menon. After speaking to Jose Prakash over the phone, he remains silent. That lasts for some 30 seconds. In commercial cinema, you can’t afford to have a silence that long. But we kept that portion and it really kept the audience interested,” he says.
He stresses editing cannot be learned from text books. “The more you see movies, the more you learn. Each viewing gives a different experience. Also, an editor can’t get along with all directors or technicians. Once a movie reaches the editing table, you end up making enemies out of your director, writer, cameraman or any technician, since you might end up deleting some shots/scenes which are their favourites. That is part and parcel of your job. From my experience I have learnt that the more you fight with your director, the better the work gets. The difference of opinion only helps in getting a better output.”
Mahesh admits he is extremely tense on the releasing day of his movies. “Every time I watch my movie on screen, I feel I should have done better. However, an interesting thing is that the sequence which you consider bad might be the most appreciated one by the audience.”
Mahesh, elder son of Narayanan Nair (retd from FACT) and Dr G Geetha, would like to give some advice. “Be it a director, actor, musician or technician, you need to be part of movies that are hits at the boxoffice. You might be good in your profession, but only hits count in this industry.” He has a younger brother Ganesh, who is an Ayurveda doctor.The 30-year-old, who will soon be entering wedlock, is nurturing another dream. “I would like to direct a movie. Maybe, in another 2-3 years’ time.”