'Not allowing movie's release in fear of his career'; Popular director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan against Tovino Thomas

At a time when Mollywood is mired with controversies regarding script theft, award-winning director Sanal Kumar Sasidharan unleashed an attack on actor Tovino Thomas, alleging the actor stymieing a movie’s release. According to Sanal, Tovino is now against his movie’s release as the actor fears the arthouse movie will affect his career which is now on a downward slope.

Tovino played the lead role in Sanal Kumar Sasidharan’s ‘Vazhaku’ and was also the producer of the movie.

Sanal:

'Vazahaku' was filmed during the pandemic days when the industry was put to sleep. The film was completed in just two weeks, using very complicated shooting methods. Excluding my remuneration and Tovino's, the movie was completed with a budget of Rs 50 lakhs. Tovino invested 50% and Parrotmount Pictures, a production company in which I am also involved, gave 50%.

Though with a limited budget, the movie was completed within a small time frame and it came out well. Many festivals rejected the movie dashing my hope but it didn’t take that long for the Mumbai Film Festival to select the movie for screening. I thought this was an ideal time to release the movie in theatres but tragedy loomed again as the 2022 Mumbai film festival got withheld due to reasons unknown.

I did not expect the film to be selected at IFFK because of the strong propaganda and vile attack targeting me basically for the politics I espouse. I wanted the movie to be released through an OTT platform but Tovino refused. He said the movie generated negative reviews from many film festivals.

It was then that "Vazhaku" was selected for the Malayalam Cinema category at IFFK. Despite the heinous game that was unfolding behind the curtains; to deny screening the movie, the crucial intervention of Sherry Govindan and Ranjith Shankar, who were on the selection jury that year, helped Vazhaku earn a place in IFFK. True to my expectations, the movie hit the right chord with the audience and it was much talked about.

However, Tovino was still apprehensive about the movie’s release and said the film would bomb in box office and he said it was a certainty. At the time, someone who was interested in spending money to bring the movie to theatres came up. Still, Tovino was unhappy and said it would affect his career.

I did not understand what Tovino meant then. I didn't know if it was because he didn't like the movie or some other fear that bothered him. I still believe that ‘Vazhaku’ as the best film I have ever made. I indeed stopped directing films due to some unexpected events in my life. But I stepped down with the satisfaction of having done my best film ever.