Of all the movies that were in queue for release this Christmas season, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Ee.Ma.Yau. was perhaps the most-discussed and eagerly awaited one. Dampening everyone’s excitement, Lijo, on Saturday, announced through his social media handles that the film will not be releasing this weekend.
Lijo talks about their plan of action before the movie releases. “We are currently hoping to release the film after the festival releases. This is also a decision by the producer and I also felt we needn’t release it in haste. But we won’t delay the release for too long, it will be out soon,” he assures.
As the trailers have shown, the movie revolves around death. Giving a sneak-peak into the work that went into making the film, Lijo says, “This concept was under discussion for a short while and it took some time for it to evolve into a complete picture. Once that happened, we found it convincing and decided to move in, that’s all. Other than that, this was not something that we have been planning for a long time. It was shot in under 20 days.” He adds, “It needed only that many days, especially since the story is happening in a small geographical area.”
Lijo has once again taken the bold step of bringing in fresh faces for his project. Apart from Chemban Vinod, Vinayakan and Dileesh Pothan, the movie has a handful of new actors. “Most of the people are from the locality where the movie was shot, Chellanam. Actors were picked after auditions from in and around that region. We chose people who are a little artistically inclined.”
Lijo and his team had a glimpse not only into the lives of the residents of Chellanam, they also saw how the community behaves when someone in the neighbourhood passes away. “We went around to understand the ambience during such a situation but beyond that, Mathew chettan (P.F. Mathew, who penned Ee.Ma.Yau) is well-versed with that place. He knows the culture of the region. His books and stories too give us an insight into these places.”
Lijo says the entire experience for him was an uplifting one, on a very personal level. “The closeness I had with my father has helped me to an extent, while filming the father-son phase. Father is always a feeling and many would be able to connect to it.”
As a message to those waiting to watch the movie, Lijo says, “As a cinema, this is very close to me. I cannot force anyone to go to a theatre. I leave it to them to decide whether they should watch a film of this sort.”
