Malayalam cinema took its baby steps towards its arduous journey to normalcy post COVID-19 on Monday.
It may be months before cinemas reopen and viewers feel confident enough to buy tickets, but the resumption of shooting of the film Tsunami , directed by the father-son duo of Lal and Lal Jr., is the best bit of news for the industry since the lockdown began nearly three months ago.
Scenes involving actors Balu Varghese and Aju Varghese were shot in Kochi, keeping the strict guidelines prescribed by the government.
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“We are all happy that Malayalam cinema has finally been able to come out of hibernation,” says M. Ranjith, president, Kerala Film Producers’ Association.
“Ten more films will resume shooting over the next few days,” he says. More than 60 films have been affected by the pandemic. Some 22 films are ready for release, in fact.
Among them are two films by director Jayaraj.
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“I was planning to release Backpackers in March,” says the national-award winning filmmaker.
“It is great to see that Malayalam cinema is finally on the way to recovery.” He is confident of beginning to shoot his new film in August or September. “There is no point in waiting indefinitely. When the entire world has begun to come out of lockdown, I feel cinema too has to follow suit. We already have missed two major occasions for big releases – Onam and Ramzan,” he says.
Mr. Ranjith is hopeful that cinemas could reopen in time for Onam late August. “The industry hopes to release at least some films for Onam,” he says. “But it could well be December though when we could expect for the situation to return to normalcy. The film industry was the first to shut down because of COVID-19 and it is probably the last to reopen.”
He adds the industry will have to be prepared for life after COVID-19. “With the entire world in recession, we have to think of cutting costs in filmmaking,” he says.