Award winning director Priyadarshan and Mohanlal are teaming up for the historical Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham and the announcement about this was made some time ago. Reports suggest that Mohanlal’s son Pranav will be playing the younger version of his father. The star cast is also likely to include Madhu, Paresh Rawal and Suneil Shetty, and the team is reportedly busy negotiating with them.
Meanwhile, the industry grapevine is that Priyadarshan has plans to rope in some Hindi, Telugu, Arab and English actors to play important roles in the film. Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham will also have a Chinese character called Chinali, that is very important to the story, and the director will be roping in a Chinese actor to play it, we hear.
According to the recent updates about the project, we hear that Tamil actor Prabhu will be playing a pivotal role in the film. After a gap of 22 years, the director has decided to bring back the two talented actors together for a film. The last time Malayalam superstar Mohanlal and Tamil star Prabhu shared screen space was in the critically acclaimed film Kaalapani. Directed by Priyadarshan, the film was a historical period drama set in the year 1915. Further, it has also been confirmed that Madhu will feature in the film.
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham is based on the life of Kunjali Marakkar IV, one of the most popular naval chiefs of the Zamorin, who fought the Portuguese valiantly in the late 16th and the early 17th century. The highlight of the film will be extensive sea warfare sequences.
The film is produced jointly by Antony Perumbavoor, Santhosh T Kuruvilla and CJ Roy under their respective banners. Being a historical, extravagant sets need to be erected for the shooting, particularly for the sea warfare scenes, and this will be handled by the National Award winning production designer Sabu Cyril. It may be mentioned here that the art director and Priyadarshan share a good rapport, having worked together in over 40 films.
(Content provided by Digital Native)