Basil Joseph has paused his acting commitments to prioritize an ambitious new directorial project, four years after his last film. The Minnal Murali director told The Hollywood Reporter that he stopped signing acting roles in October 2024 to dedicate time to a large-scale film requiring a star’s schedule, significant budget, and full creative focus.
“If the film I wanted to make was small, I could have done it alongside acting. But this one is big. It needs a star’s dates, a large budget, and time. I need to give it everything,” he said.
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Joseph revealed that two directorial projects, developed over several years, were shelved after extended script rewrites and pre-production. He described the process as draining, noting, “It’s not that I was slacking or distracted. These films took up so much time and effort with rewrites. But when it does not materialise after getting close, it sort of gets to you. Films and ideas have a shelf life, and you need to make it within a certain timeframe.”
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Since directing Minnal Murali, Malayalam cinema’s first superhero film and a Netflix hit in 2021, Joseph has acted in multiple acclaimed titles, including Ponman. Despite the acting success, he says directing offers a different creative satisfaction. “I think it could be the magic of seeing a single idea get bigger at each stage… You obsess over it. You forget where you are or what time it is. You’re fully engrossed. I haven’t felt that with acting,” he said.
Joseph did not disclose plot or casting details for his comeback project but hinted at its scale. In the meantime, he is also balancing parenting duties with writing and development work. “If it takes longer, I’ll forget to introduce myself as a filmmaker,” he added.
