For cinematographer Faisal Ali, Kalamkaval came as a surprise call in the middle of the night, rather than a carefully thought-out career decision. The call came from producer Anto Joseph, who asked him to meet the debutant director Jithin K Jose. After reading the script, Faisal knew that this was the change he had been waiting for. “I had been doing a lot of colourful films before this, and I was looking for a genre change, something darker, a thriller,” says Faisal. “After reading the script, I felt it was a different kind of film, not a mass masala commercial film. It creates a very specific mood, and once the audience enters that world, they should only be able to leave when the film ends.”
The first thing that really caught his attention was the casting of the film. The fact that Mammootty was playing the villain and Vinayakan was playing the investigating officer seemed to Faisal like a brilliant mix of different energies. The script required subtlety over spectacle, and he and Jithin had decided that it would be pointless to include gimmicky shots, as they would only serve to weaken the experience. “There’s a saying that you have to travel with the script, and that’s exactly what we did,” he says. This approach was reflected in every aspect of the visuals. The lighting, colours, costumes, and locations were all carefully chosen to support a single mood, without drawing undue attention to themselves. “Our goal was to keep the visuals grounded and believable, yet still cinematic,” Faisal says.
Colour was not treated as an aesthetic afterthought, but as a storytelling device that quietly followed the characters through the film. Faisal explains, “Coming to Mammookka’s character, Stanley, we chose a red wine colour palette for him. You can see it in his car, his costumes, and even in his house. That colour is present right from the first frame. For Vinayakan’s character, we went with green. His vehicle is completely green, and whenever he appears, the frames are generally dominated by that colour. We treated colour as something that travelled with the character.” As the narrative reaches its end, that visual logic finds its fullest expression. “By the time we reach the climax, green becomes the dominant colour in the lodge,” he adds, a sequence that proved to be the most fulfilling stretch of the shoot for him.
The film’s montage involving Stanley’s encounters with multiple women was also planned in advance. With more than 20 women suggested in the narrative, Faisal says a conventional approach would have been impossible. “The treatment was already decided and locked in the script,” he notes. “We didn’t shoot unnecessary material, and that helped us maintain control over the length and rhythm.” Faisal credits Jithin’s clarity for making such discipline possible. Despite being a first-time director, Jithin had a firm grasp of what he wanted and was open to suggestions that genuinely strengthened the film. “He knows what kind of film he wants to make and how to communicate that to the audience,” Faisal says.
Working with Mammootty proved to be an education of a different kind. Faisal recalls that despite the veteran actor’s towering stature, with decades of deep understanding of the medium, Mammootty rarely interfered with framing or execution, offering only gentle suggestions that often carried unexpected weight. One such moment occurred during a hotel-room scene, initially planned as a two-shot. “Mammookka came to the monitor and suggested that if the frame was a little wider, it might have more impact,” Faisal recalls. “He didn’t insist. Still, I changed the lens, went for a wider shot, and it worked much better. It brought in the mood of the hotel space and added to the atmosphere of the scene.”
More striking were the moments Mammootty created instinctively. In the murder scene of Stanley’s colleague, involving a cigarette, what was written as a simple action was transformed entirely on camera. “In the script, it just said that Stanley is holding a cigarette,” Faisal says. “But when we shot the scene, Mammookka was unexpectedly chewing the cigarette and spitting it out. None of us had discussed the possibility of Stanley doing something like that. That’s when we realised how deeply he had become the character.”
From a cinematographer’s perspective, Stanley stood apart from the many dark and villainous characters Mammootty has played over the years, precisely because he was never overtly projected as one. “He is the villain in the story, but we never present him in the usual way,” Faisal reflects. “In public spaces or even at home with his family, nothing signals who he really is. That contradiction is what makes the character disturbing.” Violence, too, was treated with restraint in the film. Early discussions included more murder sequences, but the final film chose implication over excess. “I believe Kalamkaval's success proved that you can also convey the intensity of the violence without explicitly showing it,” Faisal says.
Trained in photography, Faisal began his career as an assistant cameraman in ad films. Ordinary, directed by his friend Sugeeth, became his entry point to films, and he continues to shoot ads whenever time permits. When asked how he defines good cinematography, Faisal avoids absolutes. “It always depends on the script,” he says. “There is no single right way to do cinematography. You cannot treat Kalamkaval in the same mood as Kilukkam. For me, everything grows out of the story. The camera always has to travel with it.”