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2025 has been an interesting year for Tamil filmmakers, who have made movies that have transcended state boundaries to become favourites across various industries. First up, we had Shankar making his Telugu debut with Ram Charan’s Game Changer, which hit the screens for Sankranti on January 10. And now, we have Gautham Vasudev Menon making his Malayalam debut with Mammootty’s Dominic and The Ladies Purse. The film, which is also backed by Mammootty, is set to hit the screens on January 23. Ahead of the movie’s release, Gautham opened up about the genesis of Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse.
“Honestly, having grown up watching films like Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, August 1, and Amaran, I’ve always wanted to make a film with Mammootty sir. In fact, I even narrated a film to him in 2004, but it never materialised,” Gautham told Galatta Plus, adding that it all started with Manju Warrier. “We were supposed to work on a film together, and she put me in touch with writers Neeraj and Sooraj, who had previously worked in Dulquer Salmaan’s ABCD, directed by Martin Prakat. While discussing ideas, they suggested Dominic, and I found it to be a very Wodehouse-ian treatment to an investigative story. He took it to a few actors, but I was sure that Mammootty sir would be the best choice.”
Buoyed by Mammootty’s recent choices of films, Gautham Vasudev Menon spoke about their first meeting regarding Dominic and The Ladies Purse. “Even while shooting Bazooka, I never discussed this idea with him. We were just actors, and I was looking upto him, and he was telling me how to act in sync sound, etc… Then, post the filming, we set up a meeting,” said the Dhruva Natchathiram maker, who revealed that he urged the writers to not inform Mammootty about the core idea of the film, and just start narrating the script. “But within ten minutes of the meeting, he insisted on knowing the idea, and rejected it immediately after knowing it was an investigation-based movie.”
In fact, Gautham also shared that Mammootty understood his proclivity for police procedurals, but had a solid reason for rejecting the idea. “He simply said, ‘No Gautham, we can work on anything else if you have an idea,’ and the meeting was done. We started discussing some other things, and I once again asked him to listen to the full narration since we were already there. Half hour into the narration, I realised he was hooked on to the script. He started asking questions, and he said we were good to go.”
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Narrating another interesting aside about how Mammootty came onboard as the producer, Gautham revealed that after the narration, he returned to Chennai on the same day. But, he received a call from Mammootty the next day. “He asked me where I was, and I said ‘Chennai’ and he asked me to start the film, and shared that he would be producing the film under his banner. We started shooting in July, 2024, and the film is ready to hit the screens in January, 2025.”
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