Being a fishmonger's son, it was not easy for a 21 year old to become a filmmaker. People who knew him remarked that it was foolhardy to even dream of becoming one and the best thing for him to do was to tread his father's path.
Obstacles and threats did not dissuade him, but they rather spurred him to tackle odds.
Mohammed Sajil, famously known as Sajil Mampad, is one of the youngest film directors in Kerala.
He has spent a major part of his life chasing his passion. He has spent countless sleepless nights and endured prolonged waits near film locations in his bid to realise his dream. He even travelled to different places in search of stories.
Sajil cherishes the memories of this struggle.
'If they help me reach my destination, then those are the only paths I'd choose, even if they are among the worst," Sajil noted.
He was interested in drama and scriptwriting right from his childhood. He started writing scripts at the age of 10. He maintained the same level of enthusiasm as he grew up and never lost an opportunity to participate in all sorts of cinema-related competitions.
At the age of 14, he started to develop a zest to become a film director for which he received great support from his teachers.
As a stepping stone to that, he directed his first short film, ''Vidarum munbe kozhum malarugal'', for which he received the first price in a district-level competition.
Short films like, 'Leghanam', 'Sixth Signal', 'Hidden Truth' were released in the subsequent years.
In between, he was also assisting and associating several movies and short-films.
In 2018, he received the state award for the short film, 'Aura' .
At present, he is directing his first big screen movie, 'Kadoram'. The film lasts for about two hours. It is a story of a girl and her life with father in a forest. The movie is produced by Sameer Khan, professor at the Dr. Gafoor Memorial MES College at Mampad, Malappuram district.
It is scripted by Sumodh S.Pillai and Gobu.S.Pillai. Its cinematography is by Jasim Jasil, who has been along with him throughout his journey.
Sajil feels indebted to his teachers and parent as he has reached a critical phase in his career.
"Teachers have always guided and supported me through my ups and downs. Also my parents have taught me to follow my dreams no matter what," he noted.
He names film director Lijo Jose Pellissery as his inspiration.
"Lijo will always be my role model because his works inspire me the most. He has completely reversed the traditional format of filmmaking. Some of his unconventional movies that got me goosebumps are 'Angamali Diaries', 'Jallikattu' and 'Ee.Ma.Yau'.
"Not sure if it's my foolishness, but I want to do a movie with Mamukka, for which I've already started writing a script," Sajil shared a dream referring to Mammootty.