Though
Jayaraj's
Gulmohar
received
rave
reviews
from
critics,
it
is
termed
an
offbeat
movie
and
is
failing
to
make
an
impact
in
the
box
office.
But
Jayaraj
is
not
much
worried
about
the
collections
of
Gulmohar.
He
is
a
director
who
has
found
the
perfect
balance
between
mainstream
and
parallel
cinema.
So
his
next
two
ventures
will
be
aimed
with
box
office
success
as
the
target.
Souparnika
will
be
with
Prithviraj;
Kunjali
Marakkar,
with
superstar
Mohanlal,
will
be
a
period
film.
Souparnika
is
based
on
the
life
of
Professor
Narendraprasad,
actor
and
dramatist.
Mohanlal
will
play
Kunjali
Marakkar,
who
fought
against
the
British
Raj.
Jayaraj
plans
to
do
Souparnika
first
and
Kunjali
Marakkar
will
follow.
Jayaraj
commenced
his
film
career
as
assistant
to
director
Bharathan,
working
with
him
in
films
like
Chilambu,
Oru
Minnaminunginte
Nurunguvettam
and
Vaishali.
Moving
on
to
becoming
an
independent
director,
his
first
film
was
Vidyarambaham.
Several
commercial
movies
followed.
In
between,
he
made
films
with
substance
like
Paithrukam
and
Sopanam.
He
won
the
National
Award
for
Best
director
in
1997
for
Kaliyattam,
Santham
under
his
direction
won
the
Best
Film
award
at
the
national
level.
Jayaraj
is
one
of
the
rare
directors
in
Malayalam
film
industry
who
makes
both
commercial
and
art
films
with
the
same
vigour
and
gets
appreciation
alike.