The filming of Aja Sundari, headlined by Joju George and Lijomol Jose, has been wrapped up. Debutant Manu Antony is directing the film, produced by Aashiq Abu’s OPM Cinemas. Aashiq, who also serves as the film’s cinematographer, shared a brief note of gratitude on social media, “thanking all those who stood by this cinema.” In a separate post, Manu added, "My heartfelt gratitude to Ashiqettan to trusting and giving me complete freedom to shape this film. That belief meant everything.His vision and frames helped me to give this film a new visual language."
Notably, the project was originally announced with Soubin Shahir as one of the protagonists and producers. However, Joju later replaced Soubin in the lead role for undisclosed reasons, following which the latter also exited the production.
From the earlier-released first look poster of Aja Sundari, featuring Joju holding a goat close to him, and the accompanying caption, “Sundariye kaanmanilla” (Sundari is missing), along with the hashtag # MissingGoat, it is presumed that the narrative revolves around the disappearance of a goat.
The film is jointly scripted by Manu and Geetartha AR, with additional screenplay by Saneth Radhakrishnan. Manu has also edited the film, which has music by Gopikrishnan P N of Drumyuga, also known by his indie moniker 6091.
Joju, who was last seen in Jeethu Joseph’s Valathu Vashathe Kallan , also has debutant Safar Sanal’s Aasha, co-starring Urvashi and Aishwarya Lekshmi, and Shaji Kailas’s Varvavu as part of his upcoming lineup. In addition, the Joseph actor is preparing to helm Deluxe, a spiritual sequel to his 2024 directorial debut Pani.
Lijomol’s forthcoming slate also includes a psychological thriller, scripted by Ronth filmmaker Shahi Kabir, opposite Kunchacko Boban. The film, which wrapped up shooting recently, is the directorial debut of editor Kiran Das.