Filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery refutes Joju George’s claim of unpaid remuneration for Churuli

Filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery has refuted allegations levelled by actor Joju George that the latter was not paid any remuneration for acting in the 2021 Malayalam film Churuli.

In a Facebook post on Thursday (June 26, 2025), the filmmaker said he decided to come out with an explanation as Mr. George’s comments regarding the film had hurt the producers who were his friends.

Bank statement

Mr. Pellissery shared the bank statement showing the transfer of ₹5.9 lakh to Mr. George’s account for a guest role spanning three days of shooting.

Mr. George had also claimed that he had agreed to utter swear words in the sequences he appeared in only after he was promised that the uncut version is meant to be screened at film festivals. However, the uncut version where his character used expletives was screened in the theatres, with the actor having to face issues due to this. The makers did not show the courtesy to inform this to him, he alleged.

However, according to Mr. Pellissery, the makers never misled Mr. George in any way during the filming of Churuli. “Thankan chettan (Joju George’s character) was aware of the language used in the movie. The film with an A certificate was never shown in theatres,” he said.

Later in the day, Mr. George held a press conference to address the issue and demanded that the filmmaker release the contract he had signed for the film, in which all the clauses were mentioned. He claimed to have dubbed for a version without the expletive-laden dialogues.

“I decided to speak out because this whole issue had affected my family too. But, until now, no one associated with the film has spoken to me,” said Mr. George.

He also said he had shot for the movie for more than three days.