Jeethu Joseph interview | I wish to inform as many various sorts of tales as attainable

For Jeethu Joseph, there is no such thing as a escaping the truth that, nevertheless a lot he would possibly want in any other case, the Drishyam franchise stays his calling card. His filmmaking is related to thrillers, regardless of his forays into different genres. With his newest movie Mirage, he provides one other title to his listing of mystery-driven tales.

“It is a thriller, with parts of motion and thriller too,” says Jeethu, as he sits down for the dialog. Mirage follows a lady searching for solutions, joined by two others as they embark on a journey collectively. That is all Jeethu is prepared to disclose forward of the movie’s launch on September 19. Originally supposed as a Hindi movie, the mission shifted to Malayalam after almost 4 years, as Jeethu felt the Hindi business’s method to storytelling didn’t align together with his personal.

The script was co-written by Jeethu and Srinivasan Abrol, from a narrative by Aparna Tarakkad.

Aparna Balamurali performs the lead alongside Asif Ali. “Aparna’s character is attempting to unravel a puzzle, and Asif joins her on that journey,” Jeethu explains. Casting the 2 was simple, given their established on-screen chemistry in movies resembling Kishkindha Kaandam and Sunday Holiday.

“Aparna is a talented actor; this function requires her to navigate a number of emotional phases. It wanted expertise, and he or she was the best selection. Aparna and Asif additionally work nicely as a pair. I approached Asif as a result of his character right here could be very totally different, which he discovered interesting. He is open to any function so long as it offers him scope to carry out. That mentioned, the central character is Aparna’s,” says Jeethu.

He provides that inserting a lady on the centre of the story was neither a deliberate resolution nor an announcement. “I don’t imagine in making a movie as a result of it seems like the best time. If the character is powerful and the movie engages the viewers, it doesn’t matter whether or not the lead is male or feminine. It is the content material that issues. If a movie’s success trusted the gender of its lead, why do movies led by main male actors typically fail? It comes all the way down to efficiency and writing.”

The Drishyam movies have outlined Jeethu’s status; he’s typically seen because the director of “that thriller” which broke field workplace information throughout languages. Several of his different movies, from his debut Detective to Memories, Oozham, twelfth Man, Neru and Kooman, additionally fall inside the thriller mould. Yet Jeethu insists he by no means got down to specialise within the style.

“I didn’t start my profession by selecting a style, least of all mysteries or thrillers. I used to learn investigative novels by writers like Agatha Christie, Arthur Conan Doyle and Alistair MacLean, so in that sense I used to be drawn to related content material. My first movie, Detective, started with an concept that developed into an investigative thriller. My second, Mummy and Me, was fully totally different — I needed to show that I may make other forms of movies as nicely.”

Next got here My Boss, a light-hearted movie. That, he says, was a deliberate option to keep away from being branded solely a thriller-maker. But as soon as Memories and Drishyam launched back-to-back, there was no escaping the affiliation. “While I used to be engaged on Memories and My Boss, the script of Drishyam was prepared. Although I had written it, I wasn’t purported to direct it. I hadn’t actually considered casting. By the time I used to be requested to direct, Mohanlal’s dates have been confirmed, and Drishyam occurred.”

He adopted it up with Life of Josutty, which didn’t work on the field workplace. “That was a deliberate transfer, as a result of I needed a change. Making thrillers constantly can grow to be monotonous, even when it comes to photographs and digicam work. So, I explored different genres — lighter movies like Mr & Mrs Rowdy and Nunakuzhy, and Neru, a courtroom drama. I wish to strive totally different sorts of movies. There’s no level in chasing a formulation for fulfillment.”

Jeethu is equally unwilling to be restricted by language. After Drishyam he was typically referred to as ‘pan-Indian’, a label he questions. “Is there actually such a factor? I ponder once I hear individuals say that. I don’t give it some thought, and I don’t dwell on it. I simply wish to inform tales. I’ve had affords from different industries; I’ll be engaged on a Hindi movie and I’m contemplating a few Telugu tasks.” Beyond language, he provides, he’s concerned about experiencing the numerous filmmaking types of various industries.

One of Jeethu’s needs is to make what he calls a “mass movie”. “People count on logic in my movies, however I wish to make one that’s merely enjoyable. Years in the past, I informed actor-director Johny Antony that I’d wish to make a movie like his CID Moosa — simply an out-and-out entertainer.”

He provides, “After Drishyam I used to be labelled a ‘pan-Indian’ director. For me, it’s only about telling tales. The scale of a movie doesn’t matter. When I made Nunakuzhy, individuals requested why I used to be making a ‘small movie’. To me, there are not any large or small movies, solely tales price telling, and methods to inform them. Some filmmakers goal to mount every mission on a bigger scale than the final; I don’t see it that means. I’d even wish to make a kids’s movie.”

As a scenarist, Jeethu’s writing typically comes up for dialogue, typically attracting as a lot reward as his route. Stories, he says, don’t emerge out of skinny air. “It might be a visible, a personality, or an incident, one thing one experiences, reads about, or sees in a movie or the information. You then weave a narrative round that. Cinema is, after all, a industrial medium, however I attempt to work within the house between so-called parallel cinema and industrial movies. It ought to be participating for a large viewers, as a result of solely then does cinema serve its objective. I search for robust topics with stable characters and goal to make the movie an expertise. I maintain that in thoughts even once I’m scripting.”

With a 3rd a part of Drishyam within the works, the inevitable query is whether or not there would possibly sooner or later be a fourth. Jeethu laughs, barely stunned. “I didn’t even count on a second half. But when individuals steered it, I explored the likelihood. Drishyam 2 was not made with a 3rd half in thoughts. The ultimate shot of the second movie merely opened the door for it.”

For now, his consideration is on different tasks — Ram (Part I), an motion thriller starring Mohanlal, and Valathu Vashathe Kallan, that includes Biju Menon and Joju George.