Filmmaker Madhumita opens up about stepping into the dark mystery zone with John Doe

On the set of ‘John Doe’

After directing the Abhishek Bachchan-starrer Kaalidhar Laapata (2025), filmmaker Madhumita had two projects lined up - Tamil web series Love Always, an adaptation of the South Korean webtoon Here We Go Again, and psychological thriller John Doe. While the former, starring Jayasudha, Jayaprakash, Gouri G Kishan, and Ramzan Muhammed, premièred on JioHotstar on October 30, the Arjun Das-starrer hits theatres on November 13.

With Love Always, Madhumita explored comedy without abandoning the emotional concerns that define her filmmaking. John Doe saw her venture into another genre. "I wanted to make a ‘why-done-it' rather than a conventional whodunnit. Because sometimes the reason behind an act is far more chilling than the act itself," she says.

Madhumita

The film follows a cop investigating a missing boy's case, which unravels into a darker world. Madhumita wanted to avoid the larger-than-life cop trope. "The film is about understanding what fear, denial, and buried truths can do to people," she says. Das helped strike the right balance. "He brought authority without arrogance, intensity without theatrics, and a quiet fragility beneath the uniform. The idea was simple, if the audience can see themselves in him, then the film's darkness will feel closer, real, and far more unsettling," she explains.

Did you know?

Before venturing into independent filmmaking, Madhumita worked in production on major Hollywood projects, including the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean' franchise