Don Bosco Film School welcomed one of the busiest names currently working behind the camera in Malayalam cinema, Vava Nujumudeen, for an interactive session with students. As chief associate director on Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Lucifer (2019) and its sequel L2: Empuraan (2025) — both starring Mohanlal, with Empuraan going on to become one of the biggest Malayalam films ever made — he brought a perspective that few outside a film set ever get to hear firsthand.
He spent the session walking students through what his career has actually looked like from the inside: the scale and pressure of working on franchise productions watched by millions, the unglamorous realities of long shoot schedules, and the kind of split-second problem-solving that never makes it to the screen. Rather than treating his journey as a highlight reel, he used it as a way to talk honestly about the craft — what separates someone who survives on a film set from someone who doesn’t, and the habits, discipline, and patience that built his own path.
The bulk of the conversation, though, was aimed squarely at the students in the room. He spoke directly to what it takes to become a filmmaker today — not just the technical know-how, but the temperament for it: the ability to take instruction, absorb pressure, and keep showing up on sets that rarely run on schedule. His advice leaned practical over inspirational, the kind of insight that comes only from someone who has lived through it.
Students responded with the kind of energy that’s hard to script. The Q&A ran well past its allotted time, with hands going up faster than they could be answered. For a film school where many senior students are only a few months away from stepping onto a real set themselves, sessions like this one matter. It’s one thing to study the craft in a classroom; it’s another to hear, directly from someone who has lived it on a 175-crore production, exactly what that craft demands. Don Bosco Film School continues to bring in voices like Vava Nujumudeen to make sure students leave with more than technique — they leave knowing what the industry will actually ask of them.
