Through the lens of Jayaprakash

Independent filmmaker Jayaprakash Radhakrishnan entered into the film industry aspiring to be an actor. After several attempts, he ended up as a director and his first film, Lens, has received international recognition via film festivals. He also doubles up as an actor in this film alongside Anandsami, Aswathy Lal and Misha Goshal.

The core plot of Lens struck Jayaprakash when he was on a Skype call with his friend. “I was conversing with my friend and that’s when the idea of Lens was born. It is about cyber bullying and when I read the suicide note of a girl named Amanda (who died because of cyber bullying), I thought I should make a film about the issue. The movie has an emotional connect to it.”

Lens, a Tamil-Malayalam bilingual, was made on a shoe-string budget. “Initially, it was really difficult to find the right people who would invest in the project. We shot the film at my home in Munnar. After wrapping up the film, it was even more difficult to find distributors. It was a frustrating period, but when my movie did well at international film festivals, it gave me confidence,” he adds.

Jayaprakash was conferred with the Gollpudi Srinivas award last year. “It is the only award that recognises debutant filmmakers and it motivates you to move forward. When a renowned director like Vetri Maaran comes on board to distribute the film, it takes your project to a different level,” he asserts.
Lens is all set to hit the marquee on May 12.