Directing Toby was an organic extension for Basil Alchalakkal

Toby is the directorial debut of Basil Alchalakkal, a long-time associate of Kannada actor-filmmaker Raj B Shetty. The film, which released in its Kannada original version on August 25, is now gearing up for its date with audiences in Kerala. Toby will release in a Malayalam dubbed version on September 22, presented by Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films. Basil, Raj and leading lady Chaithra J Achar have been in Kochi as part of the promotions for the Malayalam version, during which time, the director was often asked why he chose to begin this journey with a Kannada film and not something back home.

In an earlier interaction with OTTplay, Basil had explained that ending up as the director of Toby was an organic extension of what he’s been doing for several years, since finishing an engineering degree in Moodbidri. Basil and Raj, as it turns out, have known each other since the time of Ondu Motteya Kathe, when no one knew the latter. Theirs was a team that knew nothing about cinema, and set out to make a comedy about bald man; they learnt on the job, with everyone doing everything on set. Barring a few core technical departments, no one had fixed responsibilities. Ondu Motteya Kathe was a great success story, following which Basil worked with the team on projects like Sarkari Hiriya Prathamika Shaale, Garuda Gamana Vrishabha Vahana, Swathi Mutthina Male Haniye, and Toby.

Read also: Toby: The Raj B Shetty school of cinema helped me become a director, says Basil Chalakkal

With Toby, which Raj had also written and was playing the lead in, he needed someone to hold the reins of the film and found Basil to be the most calm person on set who could handle the job. Which is also why, when Basil was posed a question about whether Raj was the one who brought him out of obscurity, the latter chimed in and said that theirs is not a relationship in which Raj extended a helping hand. Instead, they held each other’s hands and grew and evolved in the process. The only difference is that after Ondu Motteya Kathe, Raj became the face of the team, but that would not have happened without the efforts of every member who worked on the film.