Exclusive! Jayasurya: I would have lost out on a brilliant filmmaker if I didn’t do John Luther

The thriller, which went on floors a few weeks ago, has Jayasurya playing a cop,

Jayasurya | Credit: Navin Murali

Malayalam star Jayasurya will once again be seen playing the role of a police officer in debutant director Abhijith Joseph’s movie John Luther. While the project, which was first announced in August 2020, has taken time to finally go on floor a few weeks ago, the actor is chuffed about working with the team.

Abhijith, who had worked as a spot editor in Unni Mukundan’s Oru Murai Vanthu Parthaya, had earlier done a huge amount background work for the movie, which has Siddique, Deepak Parambol, Indrans, Aditi Ravi and Tanvi Ram, who plays the sister of Jayasurya’s character.

Though the delay in the filming due to the pandemic has kept the team waiting, Jayasurya says he is happy that the makers supported Abhijith’s vision and stuck with him. “The movie was supposed to begin last April. So, I would like to firstly thank the producer of the movie, Thomas P Mathew. Another producer might not have waited this long for a debutant’s movie. But he stood by the film. I think Abhijith too is fortunate that way. I could have easily returned the advance and done another project in the meantime, but then what would happen is that I would have lost out on a director who would come into the industry through my film. I personally believe he is a brilliant filmmaker,” says Jayasurya.

This is not the first time that Jayasurya’s faith in a filmmaker has paved the way for future good films from them. #Home director Rojin Thomas, who helmed Phillips and the Monkey Pen is the best example. Jayasurya is set to collaborate with the filmmaker soon in the 3D big-budget movie Kathanar.

“Rojin’s #Home, for instance, wasn’t made on a big budget but it managed to win everyone’s hearts. So, when the same director makes a film with a budget of Rs 75 Cr, it’s a huge deal. What we want is to make it on the level of a Hollywood movie such as Avatar. I took Kathanar to him even before he began work on #Home because I knew he could pull it off; it was based on how he treated Phillips and the Monkey Pen. So, the budget is not the issue, the subject is,” Jayasurya says.

Also read: Jayasurya: The way I choose my films now is different from how it was before the pandemic

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