Star kids following in the footsteps of their fathers is not new in M’town. The industry has witnessed several such entrants who have gone on to make it big.
Now one more name has been added to the list as the elder son of filmmaker Shaji Kailas has ventured into the industry as a director. Jagan Shaji Kailas made his debut by directing a seven-minute short film named Bandham.
“Though cinema was my passion from childhood itself, I was more focused on photography. It was while practising that I became friends with screen writer Amit Chettan and Fahim Safar. Though we all belong to different age groups, we became close and it is that friendship which helped me to zero in on this project,” says Jagan, son of Shaji Kailas and yesteryear actress Annie.
While his father is famous for action thrillers, Jagan is debuting with a comic flick. “Bandham is a sort of a monologue. It portrays the story of a single character and it takes place in a single room. That character, enacted by Fahim, is jobless. He is all set to do a film and is struggling to zero in on a script. The film revolves around his activities and thoughts about a concept and the script for his film. Bandham is conceived as an experimental spoof which shows that filmmaking is not a simple process,” says the director.
It is the movies which he watched from the school days that inspired him while directing Bandham. “As I have no practical knowledge, it is from the movies which I watched over the past few years that I got idea about the shot and framing. It is completely done without any support from experienced directors, including my father. Only one person from industry has been included in this crew and it is music director Rajamani uncle. He has done the background score of this film,” says Jagan, who is all set to join the Symbiosis International University for BBA in International Business.
