One of the most common criticisms doing the rounds about Mollywood is that no filmmaker can come up with a commercially viable film under a budget of Rs 2 crore. It is just this premise that debutant Sajin Lal wants to disprove with his maiden venture Crayons, which is produced with just 10 per cent the budget of a normal film.
Sajin claims his film is getting enough viewers at the release centres. “Though this is my first feature, I have directed six teleserials and have worked as the programme head in a TV channel. So I was well aware about the technical side as well as how to plan a budget. From the writing phase itself, I knew that it could be completed in a very low budget. Till now, my producer could collect almost 70 per cent of the budget from the theatres. I hope that within two days, he would get the whole production cost from the box office alone,” he says.
The director points out that he insisted that his producer avoid marketing of the film in order to save money. “You won’t find a lot of hoardings or flex boards of my films. As the film was released in a few theatres, I preferred to paste posters at select locations. The main reason behind that decision was that the cost of such marketing techniques is almost equivalent to the budget of my film,” says the director.
About the film, he says, “Crayons is a small film, which discusses a socially relevant topic. The film depicts the lives of kids belonging to various economic classes. All I have tried to say is the importance of children’s relation with the nature.” Daddy Cool fame Master Dhananjay essays the lead role along with a bunch of newcomers.
Even before the release of his debut venture, the director had completed his second film Thank You Very Much and started the preproduction of third film Zebra Varakal.
“Thank You Very Much was also made with a very small budget and it focuses on the lives of high school students and their family. Lena plays a prominent role in the film, which will be released in October,” The director is busy with the preproduction of Zebra Varakal, which has Meghna Raj, Ansiba and Sheelu Abraham in the lead roles. It will start rolling soon.
