2018 director Jude Anthany Joseph on film going to Oscars: I was asked to remake the film, I refused, but…
Director of 2018, India's official entry for Oscars 2024, gets talking to us about helming the biggest hit of the Malayalam film industry.
The news about his film 2018 going as India’s official entry to the Oscars, came as a shock to director Jude Anthany Joseph. Talking to us, he says this was not something the team had planned for.
“I came to know just last week that the film has been sent for consideration. I was not bothered about it (Oscar application), because that not something I imagined in my dreams. I knew it won’t happen. When the news was out, someone called me for a byte, and when I asked why, they told me. I was really shocked,” he shares.
The 40-year-old however was confident about one thing: the film doing well and getting good reviews, But again, what he was not prepared for is 2018 becoming the highest grossing film in Malayalam cinema. The survival drama was based on the 2018 floods in Kerala. “A night before the film’s release, I had sent a video message to my producers, saying tomorrow onwards, you will start getting many messages and phone calls, this film will be a milestone in Malayalam cinema. I was sure it will be a superhit, but not the highest grosser. The kind of appreciation we got from people in theatres across India, I knew it will be beyond language barriers. But again, the Oscars was not in our plan,” he asserts.
As is the norm, the moment a film gets so much appreciation, other industries show interest in remaking it in their languages. Joseph confirms that he was approached, “I got a call from Chennai, telling me to make a film on the Chennai floods. But that was a local problem, I was sceptical. I said I don’t think I can make it because I don’t know the actual incidents. However they could make it with their own ideas. I will be more than happy is someone wants to remake 2018.”
