With Thiruvonam (main Onam day) hardly a week away, big films with big stars, as is the practice every Onam, are getting ready for release. Nayanthara is the surprise visitor this time, coming to Malayalam film industry, a little more than three years after her last movie, Puthiya Niyamam, with Mammootty in 2016. Nayanthara and Nivin Pauly’s Love Action Drama will be the first major film to release ahead of Onam – on Thursday, September 5, and will be released outside Kerala on September 6.
The following day, there will be two more big releases – the much talked about Mohanlal starrer Ittymaani: Made in China; and Brother’s Day with Prithviraj and four women leading the show: Aishwarya Lekshmi, Madonna Sebastian, Miya George and Prayaga Martin. Rajisha Vijayan’s Finals, in which she plays the role of a cyclist, is also slated for release on Friday.
There are some interesting directorial debuts this year. Love Action Drama is the directorial debut of actor Dhyan Sreenivasan, who comes from a family of actor-writer-directors. Dhyan has written and directed this romantic drama and also cast his dad Sreenivasan and brother Vineeth, both of whom are writers and directors themselves. In the film, the characters of Nayanthara and Nivin are named after the female and the male leads of Sreenivasan’s old award-winning film Vadakkunokkiyanthram, Shobha and Dineshan.
Actor Kalabhavan Shajohn, too, is turning director with Brother’s Day. Story is that Prithviraj suggested that Shajohn direct the film himself when the latter told the story. And from the trailer, it looks like a thriller with a lot of action and comedy and possible romance.
Ittymaani is the funny story of the son of a martial arts trainer who keeps landing in trouble. Quite a bit of it is shot in China and pictures of Mohanlal in martial arts costumes (apart from the ‘chatta and mundu’ costume for the Margamkali traditional folk dance) had come out earlier. It is again directed by debutants, although not actors, Jibi and Joju. Radikaa Sarathkumar, Honey Rose and Madhuri Braganza are the female actors in the movie.
Rajisha, who was much appreciated for her role in June, will be seen as a struggling cyclist in Finals, which is labelled a sports family drama. Suraj Venjaramood is playing a prominent role in the film.
Saaho, a major multi-lingual release from last week, starring Baahubali actor Prabhaas, will give way for the bunch of Onam releases. Gautham Menon’s Enai Noki Paayum Thota, starring Dhanush and Megha Akash, is the big release in Tamil this Onam.