Popular Malayalam Roshan Mathew who made his acting debut in 2016 in the movie Puthiya Niyamam directed by A. K. Sajan shot to popularity with his portrayal of Gautham Roy, a musician with a major identity crisis in Ganesh Raj's Aanandam (2016). His performance in Anjali Menon's Koode (2018) was widely appreciated and garnered him positive reviews. Roshan was next seen in Geetu Mohandas's Moothon.
In addition to his film career, Roshan has appeared in numerous theatre productions based in Chennai and Mumbai. After an impressive body of work, Roshan garnered praise for his recent act as Sushant in Anurag Kashyap's directorial Choked: Paisa Bolta Hai, (Netflix) which was released last week.
In an exclusive conversation with International Business Times, India, Roshan Mathew shared his experience shooting with Anurag Kashyap, how he bagged Choked and more.
Excerpts of the interview:
On how he came on board for Choked
Anurag Kashyap saw me in the film Moothon a bilingual film for which he had written Hindi dialogues for it and was also the co-producer. I never got to shoot with him on location, so he saw my work on the editing table on a monitor and via Geetu (director of Moothon) got in touch with me through a telephonic call. He said, "I like your work, how didn't I know about your existence? I have a script for you, read it and let me know if you are interested." That 5 minutes call changed my life.
On working with Anurag Kashyap as a director and sharing room with him
There are Different versions of AK, there him the 'director', a housemate for me, and then there a person he is with people. All three versions of him are very different and raw. As much as I have stayed with him in the room before Saiyami moved in. AK is a very quiet guy, he keeps to himself, and doesn't meddle with anyone unnecessarily, he only talks when it is required. I have shared the most comfortable silences with him.
On the other hand, when he was on the sets he is very jovial, enthusiastic and very excited to shoot He jokes around, he is one of the loudest person on the set. And once when we go for the final take he is all inside the monitor seriously looking at the scene. .
Take away from the film Choked
My biggest take away is the idea of being in the moment, letting things happen and trusting the director. When I started my career I wasn't very good at it. As I am no way connected to the industry I always wanted to make everything happen at one go. After working with AK I understood a lot of things, the way he simplifies everything he just gives you basics and says "Don't complicate things" and that's how I started trusting. It's very liberating for any actor to do something that he hasn't done before and I was able to surrender to his method of no preparation, having no method at all. My personal takeaway was I watched him as a maker, have known him through the films he has made over the years, the amount of humility he carriers is commendable. He has met so many people in his life and all the people that he met along the way he has kept them in his mind. AK wakes up with those moments and memories, if a movie is made on his life and memories it would be so touching. His roots and journey have made him what he is today.
How was his demonization phase?
My third movie in which I was the lead released a week prior to the announcement of demonstration and a lot was at stake because of the film. Nothing much happened literally, I would just like to say it wasn't as worst for me.
Upcoming film?
I have a couple of Tamil and Malayam projects, which will only go on floors once the shoot resumes.
