Movie Day
The system made me indebted; Now that debt is being paid off with acting: Johnny Anthony
Johnny Antony has completed the journey from director to actor in a wonderful way. Johnny Antony is present in most of the movies released in recent times. His natural acting style is what makes him an integral part of modern movies.
Johnny Antony has won acclaim by playing important roles in many hit films like Varane Parandam, Home, Hridiya, Jo and Jo, Patrosin Patapam, Ucharapurv Gunda Jayan, Paltu Janvar, Thallumala and many others.
The Mammootty-starrer Thopil Jopan, which was released in 2016, is the last film released under the direction of Johnny Antony.
Johnny Antony talks about his journey from director to actor in an interview with Manorama News.
He talks about enjoying his career as an actor.’ I am enjoying it tremendously. And there is an awful peace. Because the directorial days had made me somewhat of a creditor. About 80 percent of those debts have been settled by me. There is another 20 percent. People who trusted us and gave us money, or people who trusted us and gave us an advance, can repay the advance. So there is,’ said Johnny Anthony.
When asked how the director is in debt and not the producer, Johnny Antony’s answer was that he cannot make five or six films in a year and therefore he will be financially liable.
Talking about my time, when I directed my first film in 2003, my salary was two lakh rupees. In 2006, the salary of the second film was Rs. 7 lakhs. Salary is not called out. In these nineteen years of directing, I have made a total of Rs.1 crore.
How will we live for 20 years after teaching both children. All movies are made by us. A producer comes when an artiste gets a date after taking a flat somewhere and sitting them down and writing it into a script. Until then, there is the expense. A lot of that would have been lost when it came to salary, Johnny Anthony said.
To the question that you got only two lakh rupees after doing CID Musa, Johnny Antony replied that if you say two lakh rupees then it is equivalent to getting Rs 30 lakh for a new director today. Later, he added that when the Wrights left, he got a little bit of money.
To the question whether you see your success as a director or as sweet revenge as an actor? Johnny Anthony replied that he has no revenge on anyone.
If we stand up for cinema, if we stay true to cinema, if we reverse our course in some way, this field is capable of changing our troubles. The lesson I learned from my experience is that we only need to work hard.
When asked if there was anything in the film that you found difficult to bear, or something like people’s egos, Johnny Antony says that there is nothing to point out, but there are certain things.
‘When a film is released, we have to do a lot of work to market it and deliver it in the right way, when the director in us lies down, sometimes they don’t even have this film in their minds. The movie doesn’t even have to run. If you ask if there have been some circumstances in my life, then there have been. It does not intend to specify what is which. “There have been situations where people who are not traveling with us but should be more important than us have not stayed,” said Johnny Anthony.
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