Malayalam cinema has been absent from its recent history where many of the South Indian films have achieved huge financial success as pan-Indian releases. At the same time, through OTT releases, Malayalam cinema has gained acceptance beyond the boundaries of language. The films including Minnal Murali, which were released as direct OTT, received huge applause. Now, the Hindi version of a film that is doing well in Kerala is gearing up for a North Indian release. The Hindi version of the film 2018, set in the backdrop of the floods in Kerala, is being prepared for theatrical release. As part of the promotion of the film, director Jude Anthony Joseph, stars Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, Tanvi Ram, and producer Venu Kunnappilly arrived in Mumbai yesterday. The makers informed about the Hindi release in a discussion held after the special screening organized by Film Companion. The Hindi release will be on May 12. In the program, Tovino Thomas spoke emotionally about his situation of not being able to release pan-Indian films despite making great efforts.
“Do you know how hard it is for us to get an image to national attention? We work on tight budgets. When we make a film, our remuneration is only a small percentage of its total budget. We do not work for money but with passion. We are a small state in the southern tip of India. Our predecessors used to make very good pictures. But our films are released in very few theatres. I want more distributors to come forward to distribute Malayalam films. I don’t want them to do it for free. Let them watch the movie first. If they like it, I’d be happy to give them a proper release. We get compliments from people who have seen it on OTT or later on Telegram. But that does us no good. We are trying our best. But most manufacturers don’t spend a lot of money on promotions. The budget of our film is the biggest promotional budget of a Bollywood film. “These kinds of limitations make us work harder and smarter,” Tovino said.
