It should be an exciting weekend for Malayalam movie buffs as three very different films – the Nivin Pauly starrer Moothon, Biju Menon’s Nalpathiyonnu and the Soubin Shahir-Suraj Venjaramoodu starrer Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 – are gearing up for release.
Written and directed by Geetu Mohandas, Moothon has Nivin Pauly playing the central character with Sobhita Dhulipala and Shashank Arora included in the star cast. It was shot simultaneously in Malayalam and Hindi. Noted director and screenplay writer Anurag Kashyap has penned a part of the screenplay for the Hindi version. Director Anand L Rai, known for making films like Tanu Weds Manu, Tanu Weds Manu Returns and Raanjhanaa, has produced Moothon under his banner Colour Yellow Productions. Rajeev Ravi has cranked the camera for this bilingual. Moothon premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival this year.
In a recent interview with TNM, Geetu Mohandas said, “I'm so happy with how it’s turned out with Nivin playing it and now I can’t imagine anyone else being this character. What he gave me, I don’t think any other actor would have given me - he completely surrendered himself to the film. He said he wants to unlearn everything and start from scratch. Generally actors and especially Nivin is so used to working in commercial films with his friends. He has that sense of comfort zone, he knows his image. He was like a fish out of water in my set initially because it was completely different - the crew, the ambience, everything. It was not star driven, there was no caravan. All of us were getting down and working hard. But I was pleasantly surprised by his response and he exceeded my expectations.”
Nalpathiyonnu is directed by Lal Jose and written by PG Prageesh. The film stars Biju Menon, Nimisha Sajayan and Anand Bal in the lead roles. Sources in the know say that Biju Menon plays a follower of a political party in the film. Award-winning music director Bijibal is the music composer for this flick with Rafeeq Ahamed penning the lyrics. Ranjan Abraham is the film’s editor.
Directed by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval, Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 has Soubin Shahir playing the lead role along with Suraj Venjaramoodu. Saiju Kuruppu, Mala Parvathy and Megha Mathew form the rest of the star cast. Android Kunjappan Version 5.25 is bankrolled by Santhosh T Kuruvila under the banner Moon Shot Entertainments. The film’s technical crew includes Sanu John Varghese for the camera, Saiju Sreedharan for editing and Bijibal for music.
(Content provided by Digital Native)