Bejoy Nambiar is returning to the big screen with Tu Yaa Main, a survival thriller slated for release on February 13, 2026, following his bilingual film Dange/Por, which released in early 2024.
But for the filmmaker, every new project comes with the reminder that directing is not a destination; it is a continuous process of learning.
"I don't think it's ever a done deal that once you've made a film, now you're a director and you know everything," Nambiar says. "It's never like that. The only way I get to sharpen my skill set as a director is by constantly learning."
He points to the long stretches between films as one of the realities of the profession. "When you're a director, you maybe get a chance to direct one film a year, if everything works out. Otherwise, you're just sitting, you're waiting. You're waiting for a chance, you try to write, you try to develop ideas."
Much of that time, he admits, is spent chasing approvals rather than creating. "I keep telling people, I spend so much time hustling, trying to get a movie greenlit. The amount of time I spend doing that, I wish I could spend directing a film or writing."
It is during this downtime that Nambiar makes a conscious decision to return to the set, not as a director, but as an assistant director to Mani Ratnam. "This is my downtime. I do this purely for myself because I get to learn," he says. "When you're on Mani sir's set, it's like going to college. The way he stages scenes, the way he mounts them, the way he works with actors and the best technicians, you're learning every single day."
Even when Mani Ratnam announced on his last film that he didn't want senior assistant directors on set, Nambiar made his case. "I told him, 'That rule does not apply to me,'" he says. "I'm happy that he allows me to come because I only look at it as learning."
Nambiar also reflected on his unrealised attempt to remake Mani Ratnam's 1988 Tamil classic Agni Natchathiram in Hindi. "I had taken the rights and I came very close to making it," he says. "But multiple reasons, the hustle, sometimes things just don't pan out."
As Tu Yaa Main prepares for release, Nambiar's journey offers a rare glimpse into a filmmaker who believes that growth lies not in hierarchy, but in curiosity, humility and staying close to the craft.