During a freewheeling chat with South First, Devan spoke about 'Valatty', its performance and his new projects.
Published Jan 10, 2025 | 2:27 PM ⚊ Updated Jan 10, 2025 | 2:27 PM
Director Devan. (Supplied)
In July 2023, Malayalam director Devan Jayakumar made an impressive debut with Valatty- The Tale of Tails. An adventure- romcom, the film was written and directed by Devan and produced by Friday Film House.
The film and the director are back in the news after Devan was recently conferred with the special jury award for best director by the prestigious JC Daniel Awards.
During a freewheeling chat with South First, Devan spoke about Valatty and his new projects. Speaking of the film’s performance, Devan also opened up about his disappointment after it didn’t work in his home state, and the relief after it received a rousing welcome from the neighbouring states, after its OTT release.
Here are the edited excerpts
Q. How was it getting the JC Daniel Award?
A. I was thrilled to receive the award. When my movie Valatty was released, it didn’t receive much appreciation from the Malayalam industry, but it was recognized in other languages. I even got offers from other industries.
Valatty has a unique, experimental subject, and its lack of recognition from the Malayalam industry was unexpected. The JC Daniel Award came at a time when I was reflecting on all of this, and it brought me great joy.
I felt the same way when I received the Critics Award. After seeing the jury members were all National Award winners, I was even happier. It was incredibly rewarding to know that such eminent personalities appreciated my work.
Q. What do you think was the reason for Valatty’s less recognition in Malayalam?
Devan with Film Critics Awards. (Supplied)
A. There were many big films like Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning in theatres, attracting large audiences. Cinema has become an expensive form of entertainment, with people having to spend more on snacks, making them selective about what to watch. Most of the audience chose these major films, so Valatty had fewer viewers in the first two weeks.
However, by the third week, word-of-mouth positive reviews helped, and audiences started flocking to the movie. There were even houseful shows in Kochi. I also received inquiries from across the state, even though we had lost major centres after two weeks.
Valatty was originally planned for release during the April-May vacation period, targeting kids and families. Unfortunately, due to the film being released in five languages, we couldn’t release it then. I believe if it had been released in Malayalam during that time, it would have attracted an audience. The OTT release, however, received overwhelming responses, something we didn’t see during its theatrical run.
As a debut director, the only selling point of the film was the production house, Friday Film House. How can we promote a film just with dogs?
Q. Can you tell me about the popularity of the movie in Russia?
A. The Russian version has a higher rating and more votes compared to the Indian version. There are also reviews in Russian, and when I translated them into English, I found they were positive. I’m thrilled that my movie is being watched in a country with such a different culture, especially since I was unaware of these factors.
In Russia, the movie was titled A Dog’s Escape. It was dubbed by Capella Films, and the distribution deal was handled by Indywood Distribution Network.
Q. What are your new projects?
A. Yes, I’m working on new projects, and an official announcement will be made soon. The movie will focus on animals, inspired by an eminent personality from another industry. We plan to execute it in a way that will have global reach.
Another update is that Valatty will be released in Latin American languages. The Spanish and Portuguese versions will be out soon. I also hope to make more films based on real animals, not animated ones.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
