2018 director Jude Anthany Joseph on Sony LIV's feedback after picking up its OTT rights

Tovino Thomas’ 2018 has already become the highest grossing Malayalam film ever, as per industry trackers

Kunchacko Boban, Tovino Thomas and Asif Ali in a poster of 2018

Director Jude Anthany Joseph’s 2018 – Everyone Is A Hero, which has Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, Kunchacko Boban and Lal in the lead, has now emerged as the highest grossing Malayalam movie of all-time, beating Mohanlal’s Lucifer and Pulimurugan. The film, based on 2018 Kerala floods, has now grossed over Rs 138 crore worldwide and is all set to release in other languages from May 26.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, Jude explains why the team hadn’t initially planned a simultaneous release in other languages for the big-budget movie. “When you are doing a movie, only you would be fully aware of its output. I wasn’t in a situation where I could tell the people around me that we should try for a pan-Indian release for this film. They had already invested so much money in the film and so, we were more concerned on how to release it in Kerala and recover the costs,” he says.

Also read: Tovino Thomas on 2018: It’s a reminder of the time that people supported each other, and not about the disaster

That said, Jude clarifies that it was his decision to go ahead with the Malayalam version first. “I had submitted the final out of the Malayalam version only on April 30, five days before its theatrical release in Kerala. So, if we had to wait longer for all the other versions to complete their dubbing and post production and then release simultaneously, the movie would have been further delayed,” he explains.

Also read: 2018 review: The Kerala story of hope, humanity and resilience, expertly crafted by Jude Anthany Joseph

The film’s OTT rights were sold, even before its theatrical release, to Sony LIV. “When representatives of Sony LIV watched 2018, they thought it was a story that would work with people across the country. The audiences would understand the second half of the movie, even without subtitles. That’s the approach I had taken for the movie. So, I believe that this movie will gain pan-Indian attention,” says the filmmaker, who is next gearing up for a film with Nivin Pauly.

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