Crest Of The Wave

The breathtaking story of a funeral affirms director LJP’s innovative filmmaking skills.

- Nirmal Jovial

Lijo Jose Pellissery’s living room in his apartment in Kochi is dominated by a huge projection screen. It seems appropriate, because the Malayali auteur, who recently won the Kerala state award for best director for his latest flick Ee.Ma.Yau, lives and breathes movies.

I met Lijo on a bright, sunny morning. Wearing a grey-coloured lungi, he ushered me in and asked what I would like to drink. Before I could say anything, he went to the kitchen and came back with two glasses filled with an amber-coloured drink. He offered one to me and said, “Cheers!” One sip, and I realised it was not alcohol, but apple juice. The man does know how to pull off an imaginative twist.

Lijo’s films are also full of such vivid imagination—from Nayakan (2010), to Ee.Ma.Yau (2018). Ee.Ma.Yau, which is about a funeral in a Christian family in a coastal village, has been deemed by critics as a contemporary classic in Malayalam. “He is making an admirable effort to give his signature in each film,” said Aswathy Gopalakrishnan, a film critic.

The conflict between religion and individual is a recurring theme in his films.

Lijo’s father, Jose Pellissery, was a theatre and film actor. So, cinema became his dream at a very young age. P.F. Mathews, who wrote the script of Ee.Ma.Yau, remembers that his first meeting with Lijo was on the set of a telefilm. Lijo was then just a student. “He talked about the title shots, cuts and mannerisms of characters in my telefilms,” said Mathews. “Also, I was surprised by his knowledge of world cinema.”