It has been around five years since he entered the film industry as a producer, after a brief stint as distributor, here in M’town. Instead of backing out and out commercial movies, he showed courage by producing films with out- of-the-box concepts.
That decision has resulted in five movies in Malayalam, which were widely accepted by both critics as well as masses. But now, Listin Stephen, the owner of Magic Frames production, has taken a break from Malayalam films and shifted his focus to Kollywood which gave him two blockbusters.
“The gap is, in fact, not pre-planned. I don’t have any hesitation to do films in Malayalam, I still hear scripts. But the gap occurred when the scripts of the films I planned got delayed owing to certain technical reasons. Meanwhile, I got projects in Tamil and hence I focused there in Kollywood. That doesn’t mean that I am completely focusing on Tamil only,” says Listin.
It was with the remake of his debut Malayalam film Traffic, with Cheran, Sarathkumar and Raadhika Sarathkumar in lead roles as Chennaiyil Oru Naal, he entered the Tamil industry.
Later he remade Chappa Kurish with Vimal and Prassanna in key roles. The first big budget movie from the Magic Frames was released last month and it was the Dhanush-starrer Maari.
“This is like a graduation process. When you are working as clerk, you will naturally get promotion. Like that after small films, I am trying for big budget films. Fortunately, Maari became a big success and within a few days it has entered the list of blockbusters. For Dhanush too it is one of the big hits of his career,” says the producer of Usthad Hotel and How Old Are You.
According to Listin, the Tamil industry is a more comfortable space to work in than compared to Malayalam. “If a Tamil film has good star cast, the producers are in a safe zone, even before the release. The distributors are selected based on the area and zones. It can be done only if we have good star cast. Even for the movies without popular stars, we have options to make it safe. After the completion of the project, we can arrange screenings for the distributors. But it is not practical in the Malayalam industry as the fate of the film can’t be predicted until the release,” he says.
Listin, who is producing Tamil films in association with Radan Media Works owned by actor couple Sarathkumar and Raadhika Sarathkumar, feels that the immense support of film associations also helped him to venture into more films in Kollywood.
“When you face any problems in case of production, you can directly approach the association as they ensure a good working environment. Last week, during the release of my Idhu Enna Mayam, I had faced certain issues as the group that agreed to distribute the film failed to do so. Hence, I approached our association and they took steps to solve the issue amicably,” says Listin.
He is now busy with the post production of his new film in Tamil Paambu Sattai with National Award winner Bobby Simha in the lead role.
The next film to be produced under Magic Frames is Virgin which will be the directorial debut of Mahesh Narayanan, who had collaborated with the production house for around three films as film editor.
