Kallan D’Souza, the upcoming Malayalam film starring Soubin Shahir and Dileesh Pothan, will release in theatres on January 27, 2022, the actors announced on social media recently. The film is directed by debutant Jithu K Jayan, who calls it a comedy-drama.
In conversation with Silverscreen India, Jithu says, “Soubin plays the titular role while Dileesh essays a police officer. The film also features the National Award-winning actor Surabhi Lakshmi and Hareesh Kanaran.”
The film’s title is inspired by the eponymous character played by Soubin in the 2015 Malayalam film Charlie. However, Jithu clarifies that the film is not a spin-off on that character. “Initially, when we began to work on this project, we thought of doing a spin-off. But as we developed the script, we changed tracks and created a completely different story with no connection to Charlie’s Kallan D’ Souza.”
Kallan D’ Souza’s script is written by Sajeer Baba, who went to film school with Jithu. The script was written around 3-4 years ago, says the filmmaker, adding that he first pitched the story to the actors before approaching potential producers.
The film is produced by Ramshi Ahamed in association with Sandra Thomas and Thomas Joseph Pattathanam.
On working with Dileesh and Soubin, Jithu says it was a great learning experience as he got to direct two filmmakers. “Both of them were excited and cooperative. They gave a lot of positive inputs for the film,” adds the debutant director, who previously worked as an associate director for filmmaker Rajeesh Bala’s Tamil film Vandi (2018) and also assisted director Shibu Balan in Oronnonnara Pranayakadha (2019).
Kallan D’ Souza went on floors at the end of 2019 and was wrapped up a few weeks before the imposition of the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. The film was completely shot in Fort Kochi over 53 days.
“During the lockdown, we were mainly exposed to dark films and thrillers. Now, most of us want to watch light-hearted, comic content. I believe Kallan D’Souza will be a refreshing experience for the audience,” says Jithu.
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Meanwhile, Soubin, who was last seen in Irul, has various other projects in the pipeline, including Meow, Jack and Jill, Bro Daddy, Djinn, Bheesma Parvam, and Oru Policekaarante Maranam. Soubin will also be making his second directorial feature, titled Othiram Kadakam, starring Dulquer Salmaan.
Dileesh, on the other hand, was last seen in Malik. His upcoming projects include Pada, Prakashan Parakkatte, and Djibouti, among several others.