R Madhavan recently talks over the making of movie Maara. Talking about restoration i.e., what heroine’s character does, he says – “This is exactly what we set out to do. Thank God you got the point. When we set out to do a remake of the Malayalam hit Charlie we were very sure we wanted to do full justice to it. I’ve the highest respect for Dulquer Salman who stars in the original and I hope he’s as happy with what we’ve done with Charlie as we are”.
R Madhavan talking about Maara being a remake says that – “Exactly. A remake can be done in a hurry just to cash in on the popularity of the original. We certainly didn’t want to do that. I only do a remake if I can pay some kind of a homage to the original even as I give myself the creative liberty to take the story further. In Maara I’ve added a character and a track featuring the great Mouli Sir which was not there in the original. I am so glad people have liked it. Four years ago when we started this project’s journey we were not sure where we would go . We started Maara with the original team from Charlie.”
Talking about why did they back out. R Madhavan states – “See, Dulquer Salman and the team that did Charlie shared an amazing camaraderie. I just couldn’t get the same vibes with them. They were a family. They loved each other. I remained an outsider. For me to try and force myself into that set-up meant I’d be on trial in every shot. Also, Maara didn’t work out with the original producers. We decided to go with an entirely new team. We looked at several directors, even paid them an advance fee, before zeroing in on Dhilip Kumar to direct.”
R Madhavan explains his character in Maara
R Madhavan says – “Charlie was a spirit. Maara is a human being , a kind giving person. We are exceedingly into a shit era, redeemed only by good souls like Maara. There was an inherent goodness in our parents’ generation. That’s lost. Our mothers loved to cook and feed people. That’s gone.” He further talks if it was the best of his character till now, he says – “It was the toughest film in my career. We shot in Ooty’s winter with elderly actors . Luckily the shooting was completed before the lockdown. I didn’t want it to be an unworthy project. I wanted it to be an honourable precursor to my next film Rocketry. To get the best out of my team I was sometimes quite mean to them. In fact I cancelled a whole schedule when I felt we were not prepared enough.We lost time and money. We also had to replace our original cameraman as he was committed to another project.”