'Samurai from Kerala': Malayali civil police officer directs Japanese short film

When Salman Esmail first landed in Japan for his master’s studies, filmmaking was not just an academic requirement waiting somewhere down the line. It was already taking shape in his mind.

Within months of arriving in Kyoto, the young Malayali, who had until then been working as a civil police officer at the Thiruvananthapuram Armed Reserve Police Camp, began laying the groundwork for what would eventually become 'Katana', a fully Japanese-language period short film featuring Japanese actors and rooted in the country’s 19th-century history.

For many aspiring filmmakers, a debut project often grows out of familiar surroundings and accessible worlds. Salman chose the opposite route. Set in 1862 during Japan’s turbulent transition from the Edo era to the Meiji era, 'Katana' explores the emotionally charged relationship between an ageing former samurai and a young ronin driven by vengeance. The film may be fictional, but the world it inhabits demanded a level of cultural and historical authenticity that would challenge even native storytellers.

That challenge was precisely what drew Salman in.
“I’ve always been fascinated by Japanese and other Asian cinema,” Salman told Onmanorama. “Growing up, my uncles who worked in Dubai would bring home CDs of foreign films. We would sit and watch them on a VCR. Those films stayed with me. Somewhere along the way, I started dreaming about making something that could travel beyond borders.”

That dream eventually took him to the Kyoto College of Graduate Studies, where he enrolled in a newly introduced course that blended cinema, filmmaking, animation, business, and entertainment technology. As part of the programme, students were expected to create a film project. Salman, however, did not wait for the perfect timing or ideal circumstances.

“I started working on the project almost immediately after reaching Japan,” he said. “I wanted to make full use of the environment around me.”
The idea for 'Katana' slowly evolved through his growing engagement with Japanese culture. Salman began attending local theatre performances and drama festivals, trying to understand the language and the nuances of performance traditions in the country. It was during one such visit that he met actor Mura Sathoshi, who would later become part of the short film.

“I told him I had come from India and that I was trying to make a film here,” Salman recalled. “I already had a script written in English, and I had translated it into Japanese using ChatGPT. But he immediately pointed out that it wouldn’t work as it was. Since the story takes place in 1862, the language, mannerisms, and style of conversation had to reflect that period.”

What followed was an unexpectedly intensive pre-production journey. Salman and his collaborators spent months refining the screenplay, revisiting dialogues, and working closely with language experts and theatre practitioners to ensure the cultural texture felt authentic.

“We had close to 10 detailed meetings before locking the script,” he said, adding that the scripting process alone took nearly six months.

The production came with its own pressures. The team received permission to shoot at government-approved locations for only two days, leaving little room for mistakes. To prepare, Salman organised multiple mock shoots in public parks across Japan so the actors could rehearse movements, internalise the scenes, and fully inhabit their characters before cameras rolled.

“We treated the rehearsals almost like real shoot days,” he said. “By the time we actually filmed, the actors were completely immersed in their roles.”

Just when things appeared to be falling into place, an obstacle emerged. The project’s cinematographer had to step away because of scheduling conflicts. Faced with the possibility of compromising the visual scale of the film, Salman approached Takumi Gojo, a cinematographer known for his work in Japanese cinema.

“I was upfront about our limitations,” Salman said. “I told him this was a small independent project and that our budget was very tight. But after understanding what we were trying to do, he agreed to come on board and even reduced his fee to support us.”

Despite its ambitious setting and international collaboration, 'Katana' was completed on a modest budget of around ₹3 lakh. While the pre-production and filming took place entirely in Japan, the post-production process was handled back home in Kerala, giving the project an even deeper Indo-Japanese identity.

Once the final cut was ready, Salman shared it with filmmaker Krishand, whose response became another turning point for the project.

“He really liked the film and encouraged me to send it to festivals,” Salman said. “He eventually came on board as the executive producer and is now presenting the short film as well.”

Cinema, however, was never a sudden shift for Salman. Before Japan, before film school, and before 'Katana', there was theatre. He has been involved in theatre for nearly a decade and continues to participate in smaller productions in Japan while balancing academics and filmmaking.
Salman hopes that one day he can contribute towards introducing Malayalam storytelling to wider global audiences.