Arun D Jose: Mathew, Naslen and Nikhila Vimal’s 18+ discusses a serious Gen Z issue but through humour | Exclusive

The Jo & Jo trio of Mathew Thomas, Naslen Gafoor and Nikhila Vimal will team up with Binu Pappu, Meenakshi and social media content creators Saaf Bros for director Arun D Jose’s latest venture titled 18+

On the movie, the filmmaker tells OTTplay, “It’s not a coming-of-age movie like Jo & Jo; 18+ discusses serious issues but is told through humour. I can’t reveal too much about the film as it would spoil the thread.”

The cast of the film except for Binu Pappu and Nikhila Vimal are mostly below 25 years of age and Arun says that was deliberate. “The movie tells the story of their lives, but through them we also shed light on bigger issues. So, in a nutshell, it’s about the problems faced by the current generation (Gen Z) and that’s why it’s told through them,” he says.

The team is currently shooting the movie in Vatakara, Kozhikode, and the plan is to release the film in theatres “as soon as possible”. Mathew, meanwhile, will next be seen in Christy, which is a romcom scripted by GR Indugopan and Benyamin and also stars Malavika Mohanan. Naslen is also part of I Am Kathalan, which has Poovan fame Anishma as the female protagonist.

Both Mathew and Naslen are also part of Neymar, which is helmed by Sudhi Maddison. The all-out entertainer, which is gearing up for release in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi in March, also has Vijayaraghavan, Johny Antony and Shammi Thilakan as part of the cast.

“Neymar is a movie that people of all age groups can watch. The first look poster that we released recently reflects the mood of the movie, which is a complete family entertainer that also has ‘mass’ sequences, action and songs. In fact, there are 8-9 songs in the film,” Sudhi had earlier told us in an interview.