CHENNAI: When we meet Balachandra Menon at his cosy apartment in Kochi, he is busy multitasking, something he is very adept at. Nose-deep in discussing marketing tactics for his directorial next Njan Samvidhanam Cheyyum, Menon answers his phone and in between gives instructions to his assistant.
He makes us comfortable and tells us that he has a meeting charted with a PR executive in an hour. But, Balachandra Menon is not one to fret about the packed schedule.
“I love being this busy. This keeps me going and, in fact, I feel Njan Samvidhanam Cheyyum is my first movie, the same enthusiasm and vigour,” he says. The feeling is justified, for Menon says the movie is an answer, a statement of his comeback.
“If you thought Balachandra Menon is over, then think again. Many people thought it was my end as a creative person. But no, I’m here and back to where I loved to be,” says the director, who says certain forces were at work against him. But, not one to bow down, Menon is out to prove his mettle and there is no better hint than the title of the movie. “See, a movie may make a good run in box office, or end up biting the dust, but for me this is a statement to people that I’m not yet ready to be written off,” he says.
Rightfully, there aren’t many who are as well-versed in Malayali psyche like Menon and his movies had once assuaged their interests. He knew what they liked and loathed and his comeback vehicle is no different. “It is a typical Balachandra Menon film and I think I don’t need to go deeper. You know what people expect from me,” says the director.
Njan Samvidhanam Cheyyum is a family drama that deals with movie industry as a whole and Menon plays the director. “I feel good about it. It is a good film, something our crowd will like. There is a fresh flavour and a very important social message in it. The subject itself is a motivation for me to work on it,” says the director, who took over a year polishing the script.
So excited is he about his next venture that Menon says he was about to produce it until he met K P R Nair, a Delhi-based businessman. “K P R Nair saw the initial rushes and script and said he wanted to produce it. He was such a massive support,” he adds. Njan Samvidhanam Cheyyum will also have two fresh faces, Gayathri (Sree Dhanya) and Dakshina. “Both are very talented and are bound to be a steady presence in Malayalam industry,” says Balachandra Menon of his heroines. But, for him, the movie is an important mark as an actor too. “I look different in the movie and I think that makeover clicked too. I get positive feelers,” says Menon, who thinks he is yet to push the boundaries as an actor.
“See, I believe I have been exploited as an actor only in my movies. Others were more or less an extension of what I created. Except in Thambi Kannanthanam’s Janmantaram or a few flicks like that, I haven’t really pushed the boundaries of my acting career. But, I have always been insistent on breaking that stereotype and that’s how Samantharangal happened,” he adds.
As he pushes off for the next meeting, Balachandra Menon shows no signs of any unsync with technology or new-world media. “If anything, I am too familiar with technological advancement. I am open to changes and anything new-gen, provided they are aesthetically done,” signs off the master craftsman.