It was earlier announced that cinematographer-director Santosh Sivan would be making a Malayalam film after a long while, with Manju Warrier and Kalidas Jayaram in the lead. Reports are that shooting of the film, titled Jack and Jill according to Manorama Online, has begun and is progressing in Alappuzha.
It has been a while since Santosh Sivan has wielded the megaphone for a Malayalam movie. The last Malayalam film he directed is the Prithviraj starrer Urumi, back in 2011.
But now, after having cranked the camera for the Mani Ratnam directorial Chekka Chivantha Vaanam, Santosh Sivan is completely busy with his directorial that will have Soubin Shahir too in the lead, along with Manju Warrier and Kalidas Jayaram. Touted to be a thriller, the film will also have Aju Varghese, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Ramesh Pisharody in the cast.
Sources in the know say that the director will be bringing in top technicians from India and abroad for this project.
The first film directed by Santosh is Story of Tiblu, a short film which won him the National Film Award for Best Short Fiction. He got more National Awards later for his feature films such as Halo (Best Children’s Film), The Terrorist (Best Feature Film in Tamil), Malli (Best Film on Environment Conservation). His last directorial was the Tamil movie Inam, which he had written, directed, and produced.
Apart from cinematography and direction Santosh Sivan was also seen as an actor in Lenin Rajendran’s film Makaramanju, opposite actor Karthika Nair. Santosh had donned the role of the celebrated artist Raja Ravi Varma in the film. He also made a special appearance in the Tamil film Thuppakki.
The cinematographer-director had plans to make a film on Kunjali Marakkar with Mammootty playing the title role but the project was dropped after director Priyadarshan set the balling rolling for a similar project with Mohanlal in the lead. Incidentally, the shooting of Priyadarshan’s film with Mohanlal – Arabikadalinte Simham will go on the floors in December.
(Content provided by Digital Native)