‘That party saw that film as a threat, they threatened and forced people out of theatre’

‘Swargathile Katturumbu’ is an upcoming Malayalam film starring Dhyan Sreenivasan and Gayathri Ashokan in the lead roles. The film, directed by Jespal Shanmughan, is gearing up for release. Other actors in the film are Appani Sarath, Sreekanth Murali, Joy Mathew, Chembil Ashokan, Sivankuttan, Gowri Nanda, Ullas Pandalam, Pashanam Shaji, Nirmal Palazhi, Jayakrishnan and Chali Pala.

The statements made by Dhyan Sreenivasan and Joy Mathew in a recent interview in connection with the release of the film are now going viral on social media. More than an actor, Joy Mathew is a director and scriptwriter. He was the director of the 2013 movie ‘Shutter’. Joy Mathew revealed in the interview why he did not direct another film after that.”The fact that I’m lazy is true to one extent. There are other reasons as well. You will have great enthusiasm for doing your first movie. After that, the second movie should come above or at least on par with the first one. That thought remains as a huge tension inside me.

Sometimes I’ll develop an idea for a film. At that time, some people would ask, “Joyetta, if you’re not doing it, shall I direct it?” I’ll then give it to them. I was supposed to direct ‘Chaaver’. I gave it to Tinu Pappachan when he asked me,” Joy Mathew said.”Chaaver did not do well at the box office. Workers of a prominent party saw that film as a threat to their party. They made sure that people did not go to theatres to watch that film. There was an incident where party workers threatened people to walk out of the theatre screening that film. The relatives of our cameraman were threatened to walk out of the theatre in the Thodupuzha region. The things that I said through the film are correct. It is becoming more evident now. We recently saw incidents of bomb manufacturing in different parts of the state,” Joy Mathew said.