When the trailer of Digger was released, audiences couldn’t stop talking about Tom Cruise’s amazing transformation. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s casting choices and the film’s attractive characters soon became a topic of discussion. But amid this frenzy, another filmmaker unexpectedly came into the limelight – three-time National Award-winning Malayalam director Bijukumar Damodaran, popularly known as Dr. Biju.
Dr. Biju shared an email that Iñárritu had written to him in 2018, asking Biju to recommend “an Indian actor between 40-60 years of age” who had a “real face” and not an “actor face”.
For many, this was a fascinating glimpse of Iñárritu’s casting philosophy. For Dr Biju, it was also a reminder of a friendship that had begun years before that email arrived.
They both go back a long time. Still, he was surprised by the email because until then the email exchange had been informal, but this time the filmmaker, known for Babel, The Bridgeman and other acclaimed films, “wanted my professional opinion on casting for his film”.
“In 2011, I went to the Telluride Film Festival to screen my film Vettilekkulla Vaazhi (The Way Home, which won him a National Award). He was there just to watch films and learn more about filmmaking and films made in different languages and different parts of the world. He stayed with me! You know that’s what makes him great. We go when either we are in the jury or our film is participating; he is there just to learn and Came to learn. Attention! He came with his daughter,” recalls the Malayalam filmmaker.
Coincidentally, both of them found themselves standing in the same queue for the screening. Neither of them was successful in getting a seat.
“Which was really great because later on we both had a conversation. He asked me about Malayalam cinema and what kind of films I was making. At that time, I had only directed three films, while he was already internationally famous. He offered to continue the conversation over coffee,” he shared.
“We spent more than two hours discussing films; he wanted to know more about Indian cinema. He had not seen any films then, but knew that there were many languages in the country. He was surprised to know that the Malayalam film industry alone was making 200 films a year! Later, he asked for the DVD of my film. And that’s how our collaboration began,” says Dr Biju from Papua New Guinea, where he is scouting locations for his next film. Are.
Conversations continued for years via email. Then, in 2018, came the message that has resurfaced today.
“He wrote a letter asking if I could recommend an Indian actor. I suggested a few names. Later, he connected me to the casting agency working on the film. And then COVID happened,” says a homeopathic doctor who balances an equally demanding career as a district medical officer in Kerala with film production and writing.
Ironically, one of Iñárritu’s initial questions had nothing to do with cinema.
“Just like you,” he says, smiling, “he wanted to know how I became a filmmaker even though I was a doctor.” The answer is as unconventional as his career.
“I had returned to my village in Kerala from Toronto to pursue higher studies in homeopathy. At that time, there was a film festival going on nearby. I watched incredible films from around the world about politics, real-world problems, the arts and came out thinking that I wanted to make films. Everything I learned came from watching cinema and understanding it while making films,” says Biju, who is known for films with a deeply human perspective and real-world issues.
Some of these films are Perariathavar (The Names Unknown, 2014), Adrishya Jalakangal (Invisible Windows, 2023), Valiya Chirakulla Pakshikal (Birds with Large Wings, 2015) and Veyilamarangal (Trees Under the Sun, 2019).
Speaking from Papua New Guinea, where he is scouting locations for his next film, Dr Biju laughs and says that he has returned to an area with network coverage only for a short period.
“The first thing I’m going to do after this call is watch the Digger trailer and write to Alejandro.”
He pauses, returning to the memory of his first meeting with the Oscar-winning filmmaker in Telluride.
“What impressed me most was not the fact that he was already a world-renowned filmmaker,” he says. “It was his simplicity. His curiosity. His genuine hunger to keep learning about cinema. That’s very rare. That’s what makes him great,” says Dr. Biju, who himself is known for his simplicity and thought-provoking cinema.
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s email
Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu’s email to Dr. Biju Biju reads, “Hello Biju, this is Alejandro. I hope you like this mail and that your projects are coming as you want. I would like to ask you who is the best Indian actor from 40 to 60 years in your mind? I don’t care if he is famous or not. I just want a real face, (not an actor face) who Be cute and also if he wants to make you laugh, he can… I know that’s a lot to ask and the ones sent to me don’t look like real ones? Please keep it between me and you. Get a big hug.
miner Scheduled to release on October 2. It stars Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Huler, Michael Stuhlbarg and Jesse Plemons.