Director Jayaraj’s film ‘Haasyam’ selected for Shanghai Film Festival

The film will be screened in the Panorma section of the festival, scheduled to be held from July 18 to 27

A still from ‘Haasyam’

Director Jayaraj’s Haasyam has been selected for the Shanghai International Film Festival. It will be screened in the Panorma section of the festival, scheduled to be held from July 18 to 27.

“The screenings will be conducted in cinemas in strict adherence to the guidelines of public gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic,” Jayaraj told The Hindu . “There won’t be any foreign delegates at the festival because of the restriction in international air traffic.”

He said it was disappointing that he could not travel to China for the festival, but he was still glad that his film was selected. “This is happy news for me and Malayalam cinema during these depressing times,” he said.

Director Jayaraj

Haasyam , he added, was his eighth on the theme of Navarasa (nine emotions). “The film has a lot of black humour,” he said. “It tells the tale of a man, who makes a living by supplying organs of dead people to medical students.”

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Harisree Asokan plays that character. Sabitha Jayaraj, Shiny Sarah, KPAC Leela, Ullas Pandalam, Vavachan and P.M. Madhavan are also in the cast.

Before Haasyam, Jayaraj had completed Backpackers , featuring Kalidas Jayaram. “That one is a typical mainstream film, the kind of which I haven’t done for quite some time,” he said. “I was planning to release it in March, but it had to be postponed because of COVID-19.”