Talent and courage are essential for any person who aspires to make it big in film industry. Director Lal Jose has both the qualities, and so, he is at the top at the moment. He has many hit films under his belt like ‘Oru Mravathoor Kanavu’, ‘Chandranudikkunna Dikhil’, ‘Meesha Madhavan’ and ‘Chanthupottu’. The success of his recent release ‘Classmates’ has made him hotter than ever before. In fact, it has broken many earlier records in Malayalam film industry. Now, read on and know more from the man himself.

Excerpts from the interview:

What inspired you to take up ‘Classmates’?

The script is all about my college days. I had great time at the NSS College in Ottapalam. Our gang called floaters used to wander around the campus and had good time after meeting up on the banks of Bharathapuzha near our college. The hero of the college those days was our gang member Dinesh, a singer and another guy named Sudhish who produced my films like ‘Meesa Madhavan’, ‘Pattalam’ and ‘Rasikam’. Dinesh is a sound engineer in Chennai studio and had sung for a movie. Most of the characters in the film have similarities with my friends in college. In fact, BBC character comes from my experiences in college.

So, how did it come into being?

I happened to meet television serial writer James Albert. To tell you the truth, I was forced to sit through his narration, as I was not in the mood to make film with a serial writer who normally writes steamy tearjerkers. Contrary to my perception, he came up with a script in scene-order and there was freshness with love story set in campus including a murder mystery. I decided to take up this different script. In fact, my mind went back to my college life when James narrated the story. He studied at Fathima College, Kollam but the characters were similar to my friends in college. The characters in the film are there in every campus, and this must have made the film a hit. 

Do you mean to say that ‘nostalgia factor’ worked in favor of the film?

 
Exactly. People who saw the film said that they felt nostalgic on watching it. It is a youthful entertainer with soothing songs by Vayalar Sarathchandra Varma and music by Alex Paul. Everything about the film is good and it is a blockbuster. I just can’t ask for more.

How do you feel about the lead actors in the film?

The young cast has made a blast. You know, everybody from Pritviraj, Jayasurya, Indrajeet, Kavya, Narain and newcomer Radhika were wonderful. They gave justice to their respective characters and thus win the hearts of the people.

Tell us about your next film.

I am taking rest at the moment. I am looking forward to take up two new projects in the near future. One film will star Dileep and the other one will have newcomers.