Jeethu Joseph on 'Lokah' craze: warns against superhero trend – 'It's wrong when everyone jumps to copy'

Kalyani Priyadarshan’s 'Lokah,' the recently released superhero fantasy film, is currently the talk of the industry. But filmmaker Jeethu Joseph has a word of caution.At a promotional event for his upcoming film 'Mirage,' the director shared his views on the trend. “An industry should have movies from different genres. What usually happens is that when a film in one genre becomes a superhit, everyone jumps in to make the same. With 'Lokah' success, now the risk is that everyone will start doing superhero movies. That’s not the right thing to do,” he said. According to him, 'Lokah' has already succeeded, and the challenge now is to experiment with fresh genres and make them work too.Jeethu also spoke about the idea of women-oriented films, dismissing the notion that movies need to be classified as men’s or women’s stories. “There should be no such classification in cinema. If an actor—man or woman—does a character well and the audience connects, it will succeed. This has been proved before, now, and will continue in the future. That’s what happened in 'Lokah' too,” he explained. He also said that it's a good time for Malayalam cinema. Linking the topic with his own filmography, Jeethu admitted that he has been making back-to-back thrillers because those scripts came to him over the past few years. “But I love to try all kinds of films. One of the subjects I’m working on now is a children’s film. Maybe such movies will happen in two or three years,” he revealed. He also addressed the possibility of directing a multi-hero film, saying he would consider it if the script and scope justified it. Looking back, he recalled the struggle of finding a producer even for a small-budget film like 'Mummy & Me.'Up next for Jeethu Joseph is the mystery thriller film 'Mirage,' starring Asif Ali and Aparna Balamurali. The movie is set to release on September 19.