Asif Ali on India’s official Oscar entry 2018: It’s a reminder to not set any limits while conceiving a film | Exclusive

The news of Malayalam movie 2018: Everyone Is A Hero being selected as India’s official entry to the 2024 Oscars has been welcomed with open arms by those in Kerala. The film had already broken all box office barriers to become the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever and now could also take Malayalam cinema to the world stage.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, actor Asif Ali, who had essayed a pivotal role in the Jude Anthany Joseph directorial, tells us that all the laurels that 2018 has been earning the past few months is a reward to the kind of work that has gone in to making the movie, based on the 2018 Kerala floods. 

“The kind of effort that has gone behind the making of the film as well as the intent of doing it are the prime reasons for all of us being happy about the movie being picked as India’s official entry to the Oscars. Everyone – from the production house to the cast and crew – gave their 100% to the film. We were happy when it worked in theatres, but India's entry to the Oscars is the highest peak of that success,” says Asif, who is currently shooting for G Prajesh Sen’s Houdini – The King of Magic in Kozhikode.

Also read: Tovino Thomas on 2018’s Oscar entry: This has been the ambition since I started | Exclusive 

‘We wanted 2018 to serve as a reminder of our past’

The actor also explains why making the film, which also has Tovino Thomas, Narain, Aparna Balamurali, Kunchacko Boban, Lal and Narain, wasn’t easy. “It’s a challenging feat to make a film out of all that we had endured in the 2018 floods. We were presenting something that happened in our recent past to an audience who had experienced all of that too. Because we wanted the film to serve as a reminder of the incidents, everyone gave their heart and soul to this movie. That’s why when it was released in theatres, it connected with everyone and became this huge success,” he says.

2018’s Oscar journey to serve as an inspiration to filmmakers

The film’s box office successes have already set a high benchmark for others to follow. But that’s not all as Asif feels its Oscar journey will also serve as an inspiration for filmmakers in Kerala. “It just shows that even though we don’t have the technical expertise or budget to make disaster films like in Hollywood, a film that we did with our limited resources for our limited audience is what broke all boundaries and will travel across the world. It’s a reminder to the current crop of filmmakers as well as those in the future that there needn't be any restrictions when we conceive our films,” he concludes.

Also read: 2018 director Jude Anthany Joseph: I think I achieved my aim of being one of the top directors in India 5 years too late