Exclusive! Dulquer’s King of Kotha director Abhilash: Didn’t want my debut movie to be a mass film

Director Joshiy and Mammootty have collaborated on some of the biggest blockbusters in Malayalam, and so the expectations are bound to be massive when Abhilash Joshiy team up with Dulquer Salmaan for the upcoming King of Kotha, which was announced on the young star’s birthday on July 28.

On the upcoming movie, Abhilash Joshiy tells exclusively to OTTplay, “It’s a gangster film based on the events that happen in a town called Kotha. It’s a not a typical ‘mass’ film; it has equal importance to emotions, romance and songs as much as action. The movie will have elements that will appeal to the youth as well as the family audience.”

The film is scripted by Abhilash N Chandran and produced by Dulquer’s Wayfarer Films. While there have been reports of Abhilash Joshiy working on several other ideas over the years, ask him what prompted him to finally lock on King of Kotha as his debut directorial, and he says, “We had to drop a few projects that I had been working on because of production and script issues. Frankly, I didn’t want to make my debut with a ‘mass’ film. I wanted to do a feel-good romcom.”    

Explaining his reason for this, the son of veteran director Joshiy, who has helmed films such as New Delhi, Dhruvam and Lelam, tells us, “I love the ‘mass’ action genre but two years ago, I wanted to do something different. Because achan also does films in this genre, he would tell me not to get typecast in a particular kind of film style from the beginning as people will then keep expecting that from us. That’s why I wanted to try different genres, but somehow even for others, it just wasn’t working out. So, because everyone expects this genre from me, I decided to go ahead with King of Kotha.”  

Does collaborating with Dulquer in the movie increase the expectations? “We have known each other since childhood, and achan and Mammootty sir have also done a lot of films together; so, that hype will be there,” he says.

On when the movie will go on floors, Abhilash Joshiy says, “Dulquer has a few more projects at hand. So, King of Kotha will take at least 3-4 months before we begin shooting. The plan is to release it only next year. I also want it to be a theatrical release, so we want to take our time to begin the film. Currently, we have to work a bit more on the script and we will begin the casting process only after that.” 

Meanwhile, the film’s scriptwriter Abhilash N Chandran tells us that apart from Dulquer’s lead character, the film’s antagonist will have a large scope of performance in the movie. While several lead actors’ names have been doing the rounds, the makers confirm that they haven’t finalised anyone yet.

Dulquer is also part of Soubin Shahir’s second directorial, Othiram Kadakkam. The star is currently shooting for his Telugu-Malayalam-Tamil trilingual, directed by Hanu Raghavapudi in which he plays a lieutenant. Dulquer has also completed shooting for Rosshan Andrrews’ Salute and choreographer Brinda’s directorial debut Hey Sinamika.