Within three days of the release of his debut directorial venture James and Alice, Sujith Vaassudev got a call from his friend from Thiruvananthapuram. “In fact, his call was not just to congratulate my job as a director, but to tell me about his friend, who had watched my film on the releasing day itself. That man, who is also from the capital city, was not in touch with his wife for the past few months. More than that, they were nearing a divorce. But after watching James and Alice, he desperately wanted to talk to his wife and family. After two thoughtful days, he took his phone and dialled his wife’s number.
I don’t know whether they solved their problems, but I am really happy to hear that my film is creating some good vibes like this,” says the cinematographer-turned-filmmaker.
The film was planned five-six years back. “I guess it was in 2009 I got this idea. That time I was completely free. In other words, I was struggling to get some good works as a cinematographer. My main tasks during those days were watching films and reading books. It was then I got the thread of James and Alice. In the meantime, I got back-to-back projects to crank the camera. I also tried to develop that idea by incorporating incidents I witnessed in my friends life,” says the director.
Though he was ready with the subject, Sujith was not ready to wield the megaphone without proper preparation. “See, I got the offer to direct a film when I had completed just two or three films as cinematographer. But I denied those offers just because i wanted time to come up with a good project, which had to be flawless. It was during the shoot of Mumbai Police that I approached Prithvi with this subject for the first time. Our second meeting on this project was during the production of Ennu Ninte Moideen. That gap was just for the detailed research regarding the subject,” he says.
At one time, when M’town was witnessing lots of family subjects, Sujith was one among those who really wanted to bring out some fresh subjects to the industry. “When I zeroed in on this subject, my first decision was to avoid a cliché treatment. Though James and Alice is a love story and more than that, a family subject, the story is being told by including a third genre,” Sujith sums up.
