Fahadh, family and a Thalassery sunset: Rajamouli reveals his Kerala connect

Kochi: S S Rajamouli has been a fan of Fahadh Faasil for years, but it was an unexpected conversation that made him realise just how wide the actor’s reach was.
“I’m a big fan of Fahadh Faasil. I have watched many of his films and kept discovering one after another,” Rajamouli, who was in Kochi for the pre-release event of 'Don't Trouble the Trouble'.. Initially, he assumed Fahadh’s appeal might be limited to a particular section of the audience. That perception changed about six years ago when his wife’s cousin, a 55-year-old woman from a small town, visited him in Hyderabad.

“She asked me, ‘Are you watching Fahadh Faasil’s films?’ At that time, I didn’t even know who Fahadh Faasil was,” he recalled.
The encounter made Rajamouli realise that Fahadh’s popularity extended far beyond the urban or elite audience he had initially associated the actor with. “I understood that his reach was not limited to an elite audience. It was much more widespread. From then on, I kept wondering when I could bring him into Telugu cinema.”

That opportunity eventually came through 'Don’t Trouble the Trouble,' directed by Rajamouli’s nephew Sashank Yelati. Interestingly, the film’s unusual premise was what first caught Rajamouli’s attention.
“When my nephew came to me saying he had a story, I told him not to take three hours to narrate it. I asked him to tell me in five or ten minutes. If I liked it, I would listen for three hours,” Rajamouli said.

His nephew instead summed up the story in a single line: “It’s about a guy who kidnaps a ghost.”
“That immediately kicked something in my mind. The idea of somebody kidnapping a ghost was so weird and unusual that it hooked me. I was excited by it,” Rajamouli said. From there, his son S S Karthikeya began pursuing Fahadh for the film and eventually brought the actor on board.

“I’m thrilled that Fahadh is playing Suri. He makes you cry and, at the same time, makes you hate him. Apart from Fahadh, there are some fantastic actors in the film as well,” he said.
The film also gave Rajamouli another opportunity to revisit his long-standing connection with Kerala. He revealed that he had shot several portions of his films in places like Munnar and Thiruvananthapuram, while his personal ties to the state run even deeper. His sister is married to a Malayali, and he has also visited Kerala for his cousin’s wedding, who too is married to a Keralite.

“One of my earliest memories of Kerala is sitting on the rocks and watching a majestic sunset in Thalassery. That image has stayed with me,” Rajamouli recalled.

But among his Kerala memories from the making of the film, one particular gesture from Mohanlal stands out. Rajamouli revealed that the team of 'Don't Trouble the Trouble', wanted Mohanlal’s voice for the trailer. However, the actor was in Georgia at the time. Despite being abroad, Mohanlal went out of his way to make the recording happen.
“He travelled for nearly 45 minutes just to find a place where he could get a proper signal and record the voice-over for our trailer,” Rajamouli said.