Exclusive! Jeo Baby on his segment in Freedom Fight: More than Joju George, Lali’s character is the focus

Malayalam director Jeo Baby’s The Great Indian Kitchen is being widely discussed, even a year after its release. The filmmaker has now followed it up with an anthology, Freedom Fight, that has five segments – all connected by people’s fight for freedom in their lives.

Jeo’s segment Old Age Home in the anthology, which is currently streaming on Sony LIV, has Joju George, Lali PM and Rohini as its main cast. The featurette tells the story of a veteran couple and how their lives change after the husband (Joju George) starts showing signs of dementia. With their children abroad, the wife (Lali) hires a help (Rohini) to look after her husband, while she finds freedom to pursue goals she has been meaning to all her life.

Talking to OTTplay, Joju tells us that he chose a family drama after his “revolutionary” The Great Indian Kitchen deliberately as he wanted to keep it subtle. However, that doesn’t mean that his politics as a person doesn’t seep into the work.

“More than this being Joju George’s story, it focuses more on Lali’s character. She says at several junctures that he was a quarrelsome husband. We get to see his toxic nature through him and his son. But Lali says she doesn’t want to remind him of all of that. So, their family life wasn’t all that great and we highlight their relationship in various areas. He toned down after he got afflicted with the disease,” says Jeo, giving insight into his segment in the anthology, which also features works of Kunjila Mascillamani, Jithin Isaac Thomas, Francies Louis and Akhil Anilkumar.

Meanwhile, The Great Indian Kitchen is once again in the news after its Bollywood remake rights have been bagged by Harman Baweja and Vicky Bahri. Sanya Malhotra is reported to be the frontrunner to play Nimisha Sajayan’s role in the remake, which will be helmed by Arati Kadav, who made her debut with Netflix’s Cargo.

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