Tovino Thomas: 2018 could help other Malayalam movies with universal appeal perform well on a pan-Indian level | Exclusive

It's no surprise that the film 2018 has created an instant conversation with its theatrical release on May 5, 2023. It's been a week since the film hit the big screens, and recently a screening was held in Mumbai. The 2018 team, which included Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, and Tanvi Ram in the cast, as well as the director Jude Anthany Joseph, attended the event. In a quick tête-à-tête, OTTplay caught up with Tovino, where the actor spoke about the pan-India release of 2018 and why it wasn't done along with the theatrical release a week ago.

The Malayalam heartthrob exclusively told us, "From the start of the movie, I've been telling this, but not their mistake either. We work under a lot of constraints, so we had to rush and finish the movie by the end of a month. If we had had a few more months before release, we could have approached the producers, the distributors, and other industries, and we could have released it in a much more wide-ranging way. We couldn't do that. But now that this movie has been released, it's getting amazing word of mouth. Now we are all trying our best to bring back the chance we missed. We want people from all over India to watch this movie. I hope everyone in India can relate to it. They're going to like it, and they're going to spread the word."

On being asked if 2018 has set the precedent for his upcoming film, Ajayante Randam Moshanam, which is also touted to be released on a big scale across the nation, Tovino shared, "I believe this movie sets up not only for Ajayante Randam Moshanam but for many other Malayalam movies to come. I believe Minnal Murali played a part in that for the Malayalam industry. And after that, many movies are getting recognition, and before that, CU Soon played a part, like Malayalam cinema was mapped in the Indian film industry. Probably, this movie will help other Malayalam movies that have the potential to have universal appeal perform well in other states as well."

Speaking about the right way to promote Malayalam films, the actor went on to say, "Hereafter, I believe all the filmmakers and producers in Kerala should make sure that if the movie has the potential, they do their best to promote it. I'm not talking about spending crores or millions of dollars. It's not that, but we can try new methods. We can get new distributors and build a strong distribution system. If we do that, I'm sure many Malayalam movies will be loved by people all over India. Just because budgets are low doesn't mean that movies are bad. With a minimum budget, we can create magic; we have done that before."

ALSO READ - 2018 review: The Kerala story of hope, humanity and resilience, expertly crafted by Jude Anthany Joseph

It's been five months since the year 2023 started; however, only a couple of films have gotten the right attention at the box office in the Malayalam film industry. When quizzed after 2018 on where he sees the Malayalam film industry going from here, Tovino stated, "With this shift and the way people approached the film, they started classifying movies into those that should be watched in theatres and those that should be watched on the OTT. So when we filmmakers and people working in cinema understand that we have to make movies that will entertain people, that is a plan."

Talking about his plans, the Minnal Murali star shared, "But for me as an actor, I'll keep doing different kinds of movies. At the same time, I will make sure that, at regular intervals, I'll have a very successful commercial cinema."

This year, Tovino also featured in Aashiq Abu's Neelavelicham, in which he played the role of Vaikom M. Basheer.