On the first of July, maverick director Lijo Jose Pellissery has put out the trailer of yet another seemingly dark film he's made, called Churuli. The little more than three minute trailer begins with animated visuals, as the voice of a woman narrates a tale.

"Do you know who Perumadan is, Shajiva? He is a phantom who leads everyone astray. One day a Brahmin decided to capture him," begins the narration as a jeep full of men is seen riding through the woods. Actors Chemban Vinod and Vinay Forrt are among them, and it would seem that they're in charge of the capturing. The narration and the scenes get spookier as strange things begin to happen all around the party of men as they go in search of someone called Mayiladanparambil Joy. Joju George pops up as a character in the woods, so does a woman questioning Vinay Forrt. Actor Jaffer Idukki gets the punch line in the end.

Dark, mysterious, and with a little bit of humour and great actors – there are all the ingredients of a Lijo movie. The trailer comes at a time when the director has been putting up posts arguing for the freedom of artistes to create content, even as the producers' association in Kerala wants new movies to wait for pending ones to release. More than 60 films have been held back from release following the months-long lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Lijo and Chemban have produced Churuli, along with co-producers Jesto, Thomas and Naushad.

The story is by Vinoy Thomas and the adapted screenplay is by S Hareesh - the same writer who wrote the story for Lijo's last – Jallikattu, a critically acclaimed film, following on the footsteps of his previous ventures, Ee.Ma.Yau. and Angamaly Diaries.

Madhu Neelakandan is the cinematographer and Sreerag Saji has composed the original score for Churuli.

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