Fiery success with Deepu Karunakaran’s Fireman

Director Deepu Karunakaran says that the phenomenal success of Fireman, now playing at theatres in the UAE, was unexpected

It is official. Mammootty’snewest release Fireman, directed by Deepu Karunakaran, is a superhit. Talking to City Times, Deepu (pictured above with leading man Mammootty) says the overwhelming response to the under-promoted film has come as a delightful surprise to him.

“We never expected this level of positive response from audiences and critics alike,” says Deepu, the brother of actress Suchitra (of No 20 Madras Mail, among others), who had been passionate about movies and pursued his dreams despite initial disappointments.

In fact, the first film he directed, Winter, remained in the cans for a good four years before it hit theatres. Meanwhile, Deepu directed Crazy Gopalan, a superhit starring Dileep. “Of course, waiting for the release of Winter was a period of great despair. Every day I would wake up thinking the film would finally be out.”

Tough experiences in the industry have obviously hardened him and have also given him the ability to handle success with equanimity. “Nothing has changed with the success of Fireman; I do not have producers lining up with cash, but I think it will help me in the long run.”

He says the success of Fireman owes to the novelty of the story – it being the first time that the lives of fire service men is brought on-screen – and to the speed with which he tackled the narrative. “We did not give space for audiences to think, and this helped us to overcome some of the drawbacks in the making.”

Deepu was insistent that the film’s promos do not exaggerate or make tall claims. “Of late, we see a trend where films are announced with a big buzz, followed by heavy wattage trailers and launches. But the actual film would have nothing to do with any of the above. I did not want to give any false expectations.” This relatively low hype of the film also worked to the movie’s advantage. Drawing inspiration from real-life incidents involving oil tanker accidents, Deepu says that developing the script was challenging. “There is no drama in simply executing the rescue operations. We really had to bring in a strong climax for which we worked hard.”

Deepu’s next venture is a romcom with Fahadh Faasil in the lead.