The director of the 2018 film, Jude Anthony Joseph, said he cried after Anthony Vargeese took the money and left the film 18 days before filming. He also called him a bad guy.
Currently, Jude Anthany Joseph is basking in the glory of his just released movie 2018, which stars Tovino Thomas. Recent allegations made by the filmmaker that he was defrauded of 10 lakh rupees by actor Antony Varghese, commonly known as Pepe, have made headlines. He added that although actors like Shane Nigam and Sreenath Bhasi have been charged with drug use, there are others, like Antony, who exhibit truly troubling behaviour.
In a shocking interview, Jude accused Antony Varghese of abandoning the project he was supposed to finance before the scheduled 18-day start of filming. “It is wrong to be ungrateful and forget where you come from. People like Shane Nigam and Srinath Bhasi have been accused of ingesting ganja and becoming addicted to drugs. The largest issue, in my opinion, is not drugs, but rather a lack of empathy and the audacity to display dirt. In the business, there is a person by the name of Antony Varghese.
He is regarded as a highly excellent person by all. I had a movie I was supposed to make. One of my colleagues directed it. For his sister’s wedding, Varghese accepted a Rs. 10 lakh advance from the movie’s co-producer and my buddy Arvind, but he opted out 18 days later.
The director said there were a lot of people like Pepe in the industry who took advance payments and never do the film eventually. “It hurt me and Arvind a lot. We have cried over this. The problem is that people like this are there in the industry. He started working on another project titled Aaravam, which was supposed to be helmed by debutant Nahas Hidayath (who is currently directing the upcoming Malayalam movie RDX starring Varghese, Shane Nigam, and Neeraj Madhav), after opting out of our film. But that movie got shelved. I believe it happened due to a curse. Varghese returned the money to Arvind much later. Many such unqualified people are there in the industry. Varghese is such an unqualified person. If Pellissery hadn’t brought him to the industry, there wouldn’t have been any need to tolerate people like Varghese.”
The 2018 movie by Jude Anthany, which is based on the floods in Kerala, is currently doing well at the box office and receiving positive audience feedback. After four days of release, the film has grossed over Rs. 13 crores in the state, this figure is projected to grow to over Rs. 17 crores by the close of business today.
