Director Vishnu G Raghav Interview: ‘Love Under Construction’ is inspired by actual people and real-life situations’

When you finish watching the web series Love Under Construction (LUC), you are left with a sweet aftertaste. Director Vishnu Raghav’s nuanced take on love and life has resulted in an engaging six-part series, with a relatable narrative. His attention to detail in the character arcs, conversations, and performances, stands out, just like his feature debut, Vaashi, a courtroom drama starring Tovino Thomas and Keerthy Suresh.

LUC’s protagonist Vinod (Neeraj Madhav) is a working professional in Dubai and is all set to build a home in Kerala. Reeling from the trauma of having been left homeless as a young boy, he is resolved to fulfill the dream at any cost. Around the same time, he falls in love with the smart, vulnerable and forthright Gouri (Gouri G Kishan) in Dubai.

However, when the company lays him off, Vinod returns home with her, planning to complete the construction of the house, register their marriage and move to Canada. Things do not go as planned and Vinod is caught between the obstacles in constructing his house and opposition from both families to their relationship. The story is spiced with the presence of Vinod’s misogynist cousin, Pappan (Aju Varghese), nosy neighbours, and a slick contractor, Jiji (Anand Manmadhan) among others.

Vishnu says the story of LUC was with him before he had started shooting Vaashi and he had planned it as a movie. “Web series were not in vogue then. So, since the script ran to nearly three hours I was forced to take out a lot of scenes and sideline many characters to shorten it to two hours. I was not happy. At the same time, I was in two minds about making a film because I was not sure if the audience would accept it. That was when I heard that Hotstar was listening to stories. I pitched LUC and it was picked. The best part was that I could reinstate the portions I had edited out — nearly 50-minute content.”

Inspired by real incidents

According to Vishnu, LUC is inspired by actual people and real-life situations. “Almost 90% of the story is taken from the lives of different people I know, with some cinematic liberties thrown in. I have two friends who met in Dubai and later moved to Canada. There was another friend who lost his job around the same time his marriage was fixed. I clubbed those situations in Vinod’s life. Two of my friends met when they had to hand over a phone to me. I made my character into Pappan (Aju Varghese) and developed him into a misogynist to create the conflict in the story,” he explains.

As for Vinod’s struggles to make his dream home, Vishnu says that he had umpteen examples around him. “I met many who have built their homes, who are constructing one and those who are planning to. There is enough content for another web series!”

Having done enough research for each character, Vishnu says that the writing process was smooth and organic. “I didn’t have to forcefully create situations,” he adds.

Talk to him about the flair in his dialogues, Vishnu gets excited. “I get a high when someone says that because I always put extra effort into writing dialogues. I want to keep it as real as possible.”

Vishnu says that when LUC was conceptualised as a movie, he had planned to cast an A-lister as Vinod. “I had to look for other options when the format changed, especially when I had to finish it within the time frame put forward by the streaming partner. Neeraj was initially sceptical about doing a web series although he liked the subject. I was able to convince him. I planned to cast a newcomer as Gouri. I wasn’t sure if that actor would be able to pull off the intense scenes, especially the one towards the end where she stands up against her father. That’s how I zeroed in on Gouri,” he says. Their endearing courtship and mature performances when the dynamics of their relationship changes are a delight to watch.

A bunch of supporting actors also steal the show, including Kiran Peethambaran (as Gouri’s father), Saheer Mohammed and Manjusree Nair (as Vinod’s parents), Thankam Mohan (Pappan’s mother), and Ann Jameela Saleem (a government clerk and Pappan’s love interest). “These artistes have always got a limited screen time in movies. I wanted to give them the space and extract the best out of them,” Vishnu says.

The series is set in Thiruvananthapuram, which, in a way, was important for the storyline, he adds. “While Vinod’s family is from the capital, Gouri’s is from Kottayam. Location matters a lot for several families when marriages are fixed. In LUC, this is one reason for the simmering tension between the two families and I was thrilled about using geography as a point of contention in the narrative.”

Having dabbled in both the feature film and OTT format, Vishnu says it took time to get used to the latter. “In films, you are answerable only to the producer. In a web series, on the other hand, there is a whole universe to monitor the work and I was not familiar with that process. I had to hold the middle ground and it worked.”

The biggest challenge was to bring in a cliffhanger in each episode. “It is not easy. The takeaway for me is that people watched the episodes at a stretch.”

Vishnu, an engineer, who debuted as an actor befor turning a director with short films, is currently planning his next feature film.

Love Under Construction is streaming on JioHotstar.