Mohanlal and VA Shrikumar Menon, who have earlier teamed up for the film Odiyan, are getting together for a new project – a commercial.
Shrikumar, a popular ad filmmaker, made his feature film debut with Odiyan, with Mohanlal playing the titular role. The film had however not done well.
The director has now confirmed that he is getting together with Mohanlal again for an ad, and released a few pictures on his social media handle. He wrote that ‘it is always a happy occasion shooting with Lal ettan. Three hours went by like three minutes.’
Odiyan has been about a shape lifting legendary hero who is equal parts feared and ostracised by the society he lives in. The narrative alternates between the present and an unspecified period of time when there was no electrification in Thenkurisi, the village where Odiyan (Mohanlal) lives. The scenes shift from Odiyan's childhood, his youth, and middle-age, weaving a story of love, lust, and myth. Prakash Raj, Manju Warrier also play important roles in the film.
When Odiyan did not do well, Shrikumar had blamed Manju Warrier for the film’s failure, even though it was marketed as a Mohanlal starrer. He hinted that there was a conspiracy to tank Odiyan because Manju was once married to actor Dileep, who is now an accused in the actor abduction and assault case of February 2017.
Shrikumar had also plans to make another movie with Mohanlal in the lead – Randamoozham, but there has been some controversy after scriptwriter – veteran writer MT Vasudevan Nair – withdrew his script, since the contract period had expired and there had been no filming for four years. Shrikumar had written on a Facebook post that it took more time than he had expected because there was a need for a lot of international contracts and financial planning. The director’s request for an arbitrator in the case (it was taken to court) was rejected.
(Content provided by Digital Native)