If you check the history of Malayalam film industry the genre which has least number of films is horror. Compared to family films, action thrillers and comedy flicks, horror hasn’t had much number of movies to boast of. The box office failure of the majority of horror flicks might have mooted the filmmakers to stay away from the genre. And now, breaking all notions, Prithviraj’s latest film Ezra, a horror movie, is making history in Malayalam box office. The movie is helmed by Mumbai-based Malayali ad filmmaker Jay K.
After pursuing management course, Jay had relocated to Mumbai from Kochi with dreams of becoming a filmmaker. “I bagged a job in a leading production house there, but in marketing section. It was later, just because of my passion that I moved to the creative side. In those days, I worked as an associate to Bollywood director Rajkumar Santhoshi and Ram Gopal Varma. Later, I became independent by doing ad films and documentaries,” says Jay.
Though he worked with the star directors, he first opted to do ad films instead of wielding the megaphone for a feature film. “In fact, ad film does not demand a long schedule. We can complete those works within a few days. It was during that gap I started writing Ezra,” says the director.
So, was he more conscious while attempting a genre which is not much appealable for Malayali audiences? “As I said earlier, I am settled in Mumbai. Though I used to visit Kerala and watch Malayalam films, I was not closely following these matters. In a way, that helped me a lot while doing this film. I did not become conscious and was free to go ahead with my project without any inhibition. More than that, many people are apprehensive about watching Ezra thinking that it is an out-and-out horror film. All I want to say is it is a film which carries all emotional elements. We are narrating a story and horror comes as one element of that story,” Jay points out.
Interestingly, Jay hasn’t assisted any Malayalam director. “But I have many friends here like Amal Neerad and Rajeev Ravi. During the production of Amal’s Anwar, I worked as a line producer for a song shot near the Himalayas. It was during that shoot I got acquainted with Prithviraj. Later, I got an opportunity to associate with Rajeev Ravi’s Kammattipadam. I co-wrote the scenes for the Mumbai schedule of the film,” he says.
Jay is waiting for the release of his debut film in Hindi as a screenwriter — SNAFU directed by Sethu Sriram with Abhay Deol in the lead role.
