Malayalam film Jan.E.Man is special for brothers Chidambaram and Ganapathy; it is the former’s debut film as director which he co-wrote with younger brother-actor, Ganapathy. The film starring Arjun Ashokan, Balu Varghese and Basil Joseph hits theatres on November 19.
“Chidambaram and co-writer Sapnesh were working on the script, and I would give them my inputs. That is when my brother suggested I work on the script with them,” says Ganapathy, who started out as a child actor in the Sathyan Anthikkad film Vinodayathra . Among his other films are Pranchiyettan and The Saint and Kammattipadam .
Jan.E.Man was initially planned as an OTT release, “we later felt this would do well in theatres as well. The producers then took a call on releasing it in theatres. Comedy works well in theatres as we all know,” says Chidambaram. The film is a dark comedy about a male nurse Joymon (Basil Joseph), who lives an isolated life in remote Canada. The action unravels at his 30th birthday party in Kerala when he catches up with his friends.
“The script was written with Basil [Joseph] in mind, and he was very excited to be part of the film. Arjun [Ashokan] was to be part of the project from the get-go when the project was being planned. Balu Varghese too...we are all friends so it panned out thus,” says Chidambaram. Shot in late-2020, the film was completed in 35 days.
If not for the lockdown, Ganapathy says he had intentions of getting into the technicalities of films. During the first lockdown, he made his first short film Onnu Chiriku about an elderly couple. He wrote the script too, “There was so much time on hand, which made me think of making the short. It is about this couple, in an agrarian setting. It was questioning about who is a true communist,” says Ganapathy.
As the release draws close, Chidambaram says, “I am not anxious, but I have mixed feelings and a certain degree of nervousness.”
Chidambaram has no intentions of moving away from the technical aspect of making films and Ganapathy wants to focus on his acting career.
“I am an actor. If not for lockdown, I don’t think I would have got into the other side. Transitioning from child actor to supporting/character actor has not been easy, I am slowly getting the break now. I want to work on that,” he says, adding that he has releases such as Salute , Thattasserry Koottam and a Nadirsha film among others.
