Roshan Mathew made his acting debut with the Malayalam film Adi Kapyare Kootamani (2015). He later featured in many Malayalam movies, and last year made his Hindi debut with Anurag Kashyap’s Choked which released on Netflix.
His next Hindi film will be Darlings which also stars Alia Bhatt, Shefali Shah and Vijay Varma. Roshan, who wrapped up the shooting of the film a few days ago, says that it was a different experience for him working on the movie.
He told PTI, “Alia, Vijay and Shefali are such incredible actors. It was a fantastic experience working on the film. For me, a lot of things about the project have been different from everything I have done so far. Darlings for me was about getting out of a comfort zone that I was in.”
While talking about the difference between Malayalam film industry and Hindi film industry, the actor said, “In the Malayalam industry, there is a certain environment on set and a certain way most movies are made. I was also beginning to really sit back and relax. This one has been a jarringly different experience. It has thrown me off majorly, I have tripped, fallen, and have struggled but at the end of the day, I can still sleep peacefully because I feel that is what I should be getting out of this film.”
Mathew, who primarily works in the Malayalam films, says that because of the streaming platform now everyone in India talks about Malayalam movies
The actor said, “OTT has made our cinema pan-India. I was in Mumbai from 2014 till early 2017 and back then, nine out of ten people I spoke to could not differentiate between Malayalam and Tamil film industries. Now, when I shot a film here, almost everyone I spoke to knew Malayalam cinema.”
“They knew the names of the films, the actors. I can speak about Malayalam films that have come out in the last few years comfortably here. That has got to do a lot with OTT platforms,” he added.
He further said, “When I go back now and start my next film in Malayalam after all that I heard in Mumbai, I will feel, ‘Ok, I am making a film here, at my home.’ You actually feel more part of the Malayalam industry when you are being spoken to about it by someone else than when you are in the industry.”
