The untimely death of scriptwriter and director Sachy in June this year had left the film industry in complete shock. This also cast doubts in the minds of the movie buffs about the progress of the Prithivraj starrer that was announced in March earlier this year. Jayan Nambiar, who worked as the associate director in Sachy’s Anarkali and Ayyappanum Koshiyum was supposed to direct the film.
While Sachy was working on the script of this film, he was also planning to direct Vilayath Buddha adapted from the GR Indugopan’s novel of the same title.
Ever since Sachy’s death, the fate of both these projects were hanging in the balance but it is now confirmed that Jayan Nambiar will be taking up Vilayath Buddha. He said in an interview to the Times of India that Sachy had planned to direct the film after finishing the script of his film. Now he would direct both the films. Vilayatha Buddha will be scripted by Indugopan and Rajesh.
The novel Vilayath Buddha has two main characters - Bhaskaran and Double Mohanan. Bhaskaran, according to the novel, is a master who grows a sandalwood tree in his backyard while Double Mohanan, a smuggler, is his student who wants to chop down the tree. The director revealed that Prithviraj will be playing the main character Double Mohanan in the film and for the other main role, Bhaskaran, he has signed up another star whose name will be revealed later.
Meanwhile, Prithviraj has signed on the dotted lines to star in an investigative thriller in which he will be seen playing a cop. The film will be the debut directorial of cinematographer Tanu Balak of The Train, and Of the People fame. Editor Shameer Muhammed and cinematographer Jomon T John are producing this venture under their banner Plan J Studios.
Prithivraj is currently busy with a slew of films including Aadujeevitham for which he was shooting in Jordan when the lockdown forced by the coronavirus was announced in March. Aadujeevitham is directed by Blessy and bankrolled by KG Abraham under the banner KGA Films. The film’s technical crew includes AR Rahman as composer, Resul Pookutty for sound designing, KU Mohanan for cinematography and Raja Muhammed for editing.
His other film in the pipeline is Karachi 81, an espionage thriller made on a huge budget. The film is directed by BS Bawa. He has written it with Anwar Huzain. Jakes Bejoy is composing music for this venture with Sujith Vaassudev cranking the camera and Mahesh Narayanan in charge of the editing. The film is bankrolled under the banner Anto Joseph Film Company.
(Content provided by Digital Native)
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