Dinjith Ayyathan is a highly acclaimed director of Mollywood associated with mystery thrillers. He is one of the most versatile filmmakers of present times. This director has immense talent to blend human emotions with breath-taking visuals and adding animals to the story as important characters. His stories are layered.
His debut film, Kakshi: Amminippilla (2019) was critically well acclaimed but a moderate hit. But his second film, Kishkinda Kandam (2024) because a huge blockbuster and the career-defining role of Asif Ali. In 2025, he made a masterstroke through the film, Eko, with the same crew of Kishkinda Kandam and the critics are calling it – masterpiece!
Dinjith Ayyathan’s shift from Chennai to Kochi changed everything
Dinjith hails from Thalassery. He later moved to Chennai, where he settled. He gave up his career as an animator to become a filmmaker. Though he had options to move to New Zealand, he stayed back because of his passion in films. A company in Kochi called him to do some pre-production work for their 3D animation film. He planned to work there for only three months. But destiny was something else and he stayed back. He started doing VFX work in the mid-2010s and did Mollywood projects like 1983, Philips and the Monkey Pen, Double Barrel and Action Hero Biju.
He regards Abrid Shine as his mentor
He did VFX work of Abrid Shine’s 1983 and Action Hero Biju, which became a turning point of his career. When the script of Kakshi: Amminippilla was ready, he first approached Dulquer Salman. But he didn’t receive dates. Later he approached Asif Ali, who was earlier impressed by his animation film, A Mail for Col John Weits. Asif immediately accepted the project. The comedy drama was good, received good reviews, but not a hit.
Long 5 years for second film
His second film, Kishkindha Kaandam got delayed for one or other reason though Dinjith Ayyathan received the script in 2022. He wanted to shoot the film next year. But it got delayed and the movie had a theatre release in 2024, becoming one of the best films of the year. Movie was released without much hype and became the sleeper hit of the year. The huge success of Kishkindha Kandam in 2024 that put him on the map, and he became one of the best new generation directors of Malayalam cinema.
Dinjith Ayyathan’s third film Eko opened to excellent reviews
After Kishkindha Kandam, he directed Eko, which got theatre release one year later. The screenwriter Bahul Ramesh wrote Animal Trilogy, which featured monkeys in Kishkindha Kandam, followed by dogs in Kerala Crime Files -Season 2 and Eko. Animals form important characters of these scripts. Eko is the concluding part.
Dinjith heard the story of Eko much before, when the Kishkinda Kaandam shoot was getting delayed. Initially he planned to cast some actor with good star value for the lead role. After the huge success of Kishkinda Kaandam, the team became more confident that people were liking the films, and decided to cast Sandeep Pradeep, an upcoming actor. In fact, as the crew didn’t change, they started shooting of Eko within 6 months of release of Kishkinda Kaandam. When Sandeep was casted for the film, Alappuzha Gymkhana and Padakkalam were not released. And with the success of Eko, 2025 became a great year for the actor.
The team shot Eko in shot in less-explored areas like Kanjar and Kulamavu. Many risky shots were shot in real time, and not VFX, and that’s why the movie is so realistic. They shot the film in raining July fighting against harsh weather conditions. But the rain, wind and the mist added to the visual appeal of the film, and people hail the cinematography.
Dinjith Ayyathan – Some interesting and less-known facts
1. He manifested the success of ‘Kishkindha Kaandam’, and the movie emerged as an Onam winner of 2024. Though his debut film, Kakshi: Amminippilla received favourable reviews, it was not a commercial success.
2. The movie Kakshi: Amminippilla was not promoted, which became the major reason of movie’s failure. So the entire team went out to put up posters across the state.
3. He doesn’t change his crew more often. Cinematographer cum screenwriter Bahul Ramesh and editor Sooraj E. S worked in all his three films, while music composer & background scorer Mujeeb Majeed worked in 2 of his films, except the debut one. (Bahul Ramesh didn’t script Kakshi: Amminippilla)
4. Some of the intense scenes in the climax of Kishkindha Kaandam were shot in the beginning. They had to reshoot some important scenes featuring Asif too.
5. His father Divakaran Ayyathan has done a small role in the film, Kishkindha Kaandam and similar to film climax, the duo hugged (for the first time ever) after the film’s release, which was an emotional moment for both of them.
6. The big house used for the shooting purposes of Kishkindha Kaandam and Bramayugam are same. Both films were released same year too.
7. At present, he holds no plans to shoot a sequel for Kishkinda Kaandam, as he believes, the soul of the film will be lost. There is nothing beyond that. The movie is perfect as itself.
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