Asif Ali and director Jis Joy have finished shooting Kottayam Belt, their sixth film together. The team announced the pack-up in an Instagram post on October 13, and the film has now gone into post-production.
Here's the post:
Instagram postView post on Instagram →
A family thriller set in the high ranges
Kottayam Belt is billed as a family thriller. Reports suggest it follows four brothers who hold a lot of power within a Christian community. The story is set in Kerala's eastern high ranges.
Suresh Gopalan has written the screenplay, with creative input from Bobby-Sanjay, the writing duo behind Traffic and Mumbai Police.
Vijayaraghavan, Shine Tom Chacko, Vishnu Agasthya, Bobby Kurian, Shruti Ramachandran, Sandra Chandran and Srikant Murali are also tagged. The wider cast includes Jagadish and Alencier. Filming took place in Thodupuzha, Kochi, Kottayam and Thrissur.
Asif and Jis, six films in
The pair started with Bicycle Thieves in 2013. Sunday Holiday, Vijay Superum Pournamiyum and Innale Vare followed. Asif has appeared in every film Jis has directed, even playing himself in a cameo in Mohan Kumar Fans.
Their last outing, Thalavan, changed the pattern. Jis had built his name on light family dramas, but Thalavan was a police thriller with Biju Menon. The makers marked 65 days in theatres with a success event in Kochi, where they announced a sequel, Thalavan 2.
That makes Kottayam Belt the first Asif-Jis film since that run. It also keeps the thriller turn, but moves it from a police station to a family.
Key details
Film: Kottayam Belt
Director: Jis Joy
Screenplay: Suresh Gopalan
Lead: Asif Ali
Music: Govind Vasantha
Producers: T R Shamsudheen (Dreamkatcher Productions) and Venu Gopalakrishnan (Kaalish Productions)
Status: Filming complete; in post-production
Release date: Not announced
What comes next
The makers have not announced a release date. Govind Vasantha, who composed the music, also scores Dinoy Paulose's Hello Dear, due on January 29, 2027.
For now, the team's post promises "a release worth the wait".
