Detective stories are not new to Malayali audiences. From Dasan and Vijayan— our homegrown Sherlock and Watson —to the iconic Moosa and the most recent Dominic and Ujjwalan, Malayalam cinema has seen its fair share of detectives. Some were devoted and no-nonsense, while some thrived in their quirkiness. In fact, we even had a film titled Detective, which announced the arrival of Jeethu Joseph, who went on to make some of the industry's most celebrated thriller films. This Thursday, there's a new detective set to take charge in theatres. He is The Pet Detective.
Sharaf U Dheen plays the titular role of a detective focusing specifically on missing pets. Jai Vishnu, one of the film's writers, pins high hopes on this idea. "Though our audiences are already familiar with detective stories, we still have a lot of freshness to offer. The core concept about pets is unique. But apart from that, the film also branches out to some subplots, which have a mix of action, thriller, emotions, and of course, comedy."
Although his first release as a writer was the 2023-released Madhura Manohara Moham, also starring Sharaf, Jai clarifies that The Pet Detective had been in development even before that. To be precise, it all started with an incident during the pandemic. "Sharafkka's friend had a Shih Tzu dog that went missing, triggering a frantic search all over. Even Nazriya and Soubin had shared about it on social media. Thankfully, they found the dog after two days. This incident sparked an idea in Sharafkka about a detective who finds missing pets. At that time, he was discussing another subject with Praneesh (Vijayan) ettan, but they proceeded with this one first," says Jai, who joined the team later. "Over the next 4-5 years, we worked on multiple drafts, including a version set during the pandemic. We kept reworking the subplots and the characters, but all along, we tried to keep the fun element intact," he adds.
It is one thing to write a film about pets, but shooting with them is no cakewalk, and Jai Vishnu, also the film's executive producer, concurs. "Firstly, it is expensive to shoot with animals. You need to get trained and certified pets, and a lot of other permissions. The dogs, macaws, and almost all the birds and animals you see in the film are properly trained, which made our job easier. Despite all that, there will always be uncomfortable situations for them, and you have to be ready for it. I would say that the animals cooperated as much as the humans," laughs Jai.
So are pets the film's USP? "Well, I'd say it's the overall entertainment factor. Sharafkka became popular among the masses with his entertaining stuff, so he knew his best bet as a producer was not action or thriller, but a pure entertainer."
Recalling how Sharaf also took up the film's production, Jai adds, "We were in talks with some other banners, but after several delays, Sharafkka himself came forward to produce. We asked him if he had the funds sorted, because it's a big enough film, but he said we'll manage. He was confident in the content and hopeful that someone like Gokulam Gopalan chettan would join to invest if our output is good, and that's exactly what happened."
Though Sharaf previously backed the critically acclaimed film Chavittu, The Pet Detective is his first mainstream production. After having worked with him in close quarters, both as a writer and executive producer, Jai is all praise for Sharaf, the producer. "It's a blessing to have a producer like him. I might have written something with all the budget constraints in mind, but he would encourage us to think bigger and not limit ourselves. There were no compromises at any point, be it with the locations or technical support. If the scene demanded a Phantom camera, he would ask us to go for it without any second thought. He had a fair idea of his market potential, but he was always ready to spend more. Since this is also his first commercial production, he was very particular about how the film should look."
This perhaps explains how Sharaf got a lot of his friends from Premam on board, including cinematographer Anend C Chandran and composer Rajesh Murugesan. "They are all part of Alphonse Puthren's Aluva gang. Even Praneesh ettan is from Aluva. They all share a great rapport, and are always open to inputs and suggestions. Even with the writing, there were a lot of creative contributions. At the end of the day, we all wanted to make a good film," says Jai.
The Pet Detective has more Premam connections as Anupama Parameswaran plays the female lead and Vinay Forrt features in a significant character. When asked about signing Anupama, a busy actor in Telugu and Tamil these days, Jai says, "Anupama has been part of the project for nearly four years now. Even during all our production issues and delays, she stayed committed, waiting patiently for the film to happen. It's an important role and we wanted someone young and energetic. Since she's not very active in Malayalam lately, there's also a freshness to see her in that part."
Besides being the writer and executive producer, Jai also dons the hat of an actor in The Pet Detective, playing Kaattalan Suni, an ardent fan of social media personality Amala Shaji. "It's a minor role, but I liked it during the scripting itself and secretly wished to do it. With this team, I had the liberty to ask for a role. I've always been passionate about acting and even left my job in Bengaluru to act in my first film, Anveshanam. I was also supposed to act in some of my friends' films, but the pandemic disrupted our plans. Thankfully, I had Madhura Manohara Moham's script with me. I now wish to pursue both acting and writing in parallel. As someone who always wanted to see myself on screen, I'm glad to have reached a place where people recognise me today."
