Who is Jude Anthony Joseph, the director behind 2018, India's official entry for the 2024 Oscars?

Filmmaker Jude Anthony Joseph’s Malayalam film 2018 starring Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Narain and Lal is India’s official entry for the Oscars 2024. The film, which released in May this year, was a critical and commercial success. With over Rs 200 crore at the global box office, 2018 emerged as the highest-grosser Malayalam film of all time. Annoucing the news of 2018 as India’s official entry, Committee Chairman Girish Kasaravalli said, “Of the 22 films shortlisted for the Oscars 2024, 2018: Everyone is a Hero was the collective decision of the jury.”

Well, no Indian entry has been nominated for Best International Feature Film since Aamir Khan starrer Lagaan and while we are expecting 2018 to end the dry spell at the Oscars, let’s get to know about the creative genius behind the film. Who is Jude Anthony Joseph? The Malayalam filmmaker is a degree holder in B-tech Electronics & Communication Engineering. After assisting in films like Malarvaadi Arts Club and Thattathin Marayathu, Jude made his directorial debut with Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, a coming-of-age romantic comedy featuring Nazriya Nazim and Nivin Pauly in prominent roles. The film opened with positive reviews and turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 2014. Post that, he directed Oru Muthassi Gadha, which was a story by Nivin Pauly. Featuring Rajini Chandy and Bhagyalakshmi in key roles, the heartwarming movie garnered rave response from the audience. In 2017, the filmmaker was criticised for his misogynistic statement as he wrote on Facebook, “A monkey gets into a circus tent. It does tricks according to what the circus master says. Finally, the monkey becomes known all over the town as an acrobat. Then, it starts to abuse the circus performers and owners, cribbing that they were exploiting it. The monkey could have gone back to the forest in the beginning. But if it had done that, who would have heard about it?”