Rahul Riji Nair reminisces about his award-winning film ‘Ottamuri Velicham’: I was told repeatedly that an Indie film like ours will not even get a release

Filmmaker Rahul Riji Nair reminisced about his debut directorial ‘Ottamuri Velicham’ on the seventh anniversary of the film’s announcement. Rahul, who is now one of the promising young filmmakers in the Malayalam film industry, shared the challenges he faced in releasing his maiden film.
In a note shared on Instagram, Rahul Riji Nair said, “May 13, 2017: After 5 years of struggling to make my first film, I announced my debut film “Ottamuri Velicham” as Writer, Producer and Director. Except for my family and few friends, nobody else really cared about this announcement.”
He opened up about how the one of the investors backed out of the project, two days after the announcement, “Two days after this announcement, one of our major investors backed out and I had to raise more money, if we had to begin shooting in couple of weeks as planned. I was told repeatedly that an Indie film like ours will not even get a release and that I am going to drown in debt. Deep down I also knew that this might be my first and last film. But all I cared for was that I just wanted to make that one piece of cinema the way I want. Even if the world rejects the film, I would still be happy and smiling in my grave.”
He further added about how some things haven’t changed even after these seven years, where he made five feature films, “7 years and 5 feature films later, I don’t think much have changed. I still do things that scares me like hell but gives me that unconditional happiness. I still have to struggle to make my films happen and at times those choices stop making sense. On this journey, I might win some, I might loose some, but I have promised myself to never stop trying.”
Rahul Riji Nair also spoke about how the win at the Kerala State Film Awards touched him on a personal level, “One of the happiest memories of my life is hearing my father cry out loud in happiness when the Kerala State Awards were declared for Ottamuri Velicham. The film took me to places I never dreamt of and it even made me money as a producer! All the people who believed in me and stood beside me like a rock to make this film happen will always remain etched in heart. I am forever indebted to each one of you. Only gratitude. PS: Ottamuri Velicham is streaming on Jio Cinema.”


'Ottamuri Velicham' starring Deepak Parambol and Vinitha Koshy won four Kerala state film awards - best film, best editor, best character actress, special jury award.
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