At a time when Malayalam cinema was starting to move away from the faded cliché stories of Kodambakkam, a young man from Varkala drove to Chennai with film dreams. Since his family owned a movie theater, there was nothing that influenced his childhood dreams as much as cinema. So Varkala Joshi aka Joshi M Krishnan Nair and Sasikumar started as an assistant with the dream of directing. By becoming a disciple of Cross Belt Mani, he took the first step in his evolution to director Joshi.
Joshi made his grand debut in 1978 with Tiger Salim. The director in him, who was not interested in watching movies in the usual framework, tried from the very beginning to make the audience grasp by adding the funny elements of mass films. Later, Murkhan and Raktavam witnessed the birth of not only a new director but also a new visual treatment for the audience. Starting with Sudheer and Vincent in Tiger Saleem, Prem Naseer, Jayan, Madhu, Sukumaran, Shankar, Ratheesh, Rahman, Soman, Mohanlal, Mammootty, Jayaram, Dileep, Nivin Pauly, Joju, and many other Malayalam stars, Joshi helped establish stardom at important stages of their careers. Movies were essential. Perhaps, after Sasikumar, when a director’s name flashed on the screen, people clapped when they saw ‘Direction : Joshi’. Video: