Lijo Jose Pellissery: I was more satisfied with Ee Ma Yau than my other movies

Coming off a stupendous run after Angamaly Diaries, director Lijo Jose Pellissery won his first Kerala State Award for the Best Director for his yet-to-be-released movie Ee Ma Yau.
The filmmaker, who is currently dubbing for his cameo role in Swathanthryam Artharathriyil, talks to us about his win:
Your career started as the finalist of a major short film competition in 2007 and now a decade later, you have won the State Award for the Best Director for Ee Ma Yau.How special is it?
I don’t know if it’s any more special than the other achievements as I give the same importance for every accolade. But after shooting this film, I guess I was comparatively more satisfied than my other movies. I think that had to do with the things around – the performances and the kind of spirit the film had.
Ee Ma Yau also followed the blockbuster success of Angamaly Diaries last year. As a director did you feel pressure to live up to that?
It is a small film and frankly, I have never felt the burden of expectations. I think it’s when you unrealistically create an expectation, that’s when you become unable to do a good movie. The idea is to always do a good film; it doesn’t matter if it is big or small.
In the last 10 years, you have also not compromised on your kind of films. Is the award also a victory to that mindset?
That’s something I have strongly believed in and it’s what I will be carrying on even in the future.