Jallikattu director Lijo Jose’s Churuli gears up for OTT release

Director Lijo Jose Pellissery’s upcoming film Churuli is all set to stream on over-the-top (OTT) platform Sony LIV from November 19. A new trailer was unveiled by the streaming platform on November 11. The film had its world premiere at the 25th International Film Festival of Kerala (IFFK) earlier this year. It was also screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Churuli stars Chemban Vinod, Joju George, Vinay Forrt and Jaffer Idukki in pivotal roles. 

Churuli marks director Lijo Jose’s second collaboration with writer S Hareesh, who wrote the screenplay for hit Malayalam movie Jallikattu. The trailer opens with a woman retelling a folk tale about a rural legend and ghost living in the jungle- Perumadan, who has fun misguiding people. “He is a monster who leads everyone astray,” the woman says. She further says that a monk set out to capture Perumadan in the forest. Corresponding to her story, we see sequences from the present-day being played out. Shot in a hilly backdrop, the trailer reveals that the characters in the movie are on the lookout for a man. The trailer hints that the rest of the film might track the mysterious events that happen during the manhunt. 

Churuli is backed by director Lijo Jose Pellissery and Chemban Vinod Jose under the banner of Movie Monastery and Chembosky Motion Pictures respectively, while Jesto Varghese, O Thomas Panicker and Naushad Salahudin are on board as the co-producers.  Churuli was reportedly shot in 19 days last year. Before Churuli, director Lijo Jose worked on the critically acclaimed Malayalam film Jallikattu. The film starred Antony Varghese, Chemban Vinod Jose, Sabumon Abdusamad and Santhy Balachandran in pivotal roles. Jallikattu was selected as India’s official entry at the 93rd Academy Awards under the category of Best International Feature FIlm but it was not nominated. Jallikattu was the third Malayalam film to be selected as India’s official entry to the Oscars after Guru and Adaminte Makan Abu. 

Watch the trailer of ‘Churuli’ here 

READ: ‘Churuli’ review: This Lijo Jose movie is mysterious, funny but loses focus at times