Sharing a photograph of actor Trisha Krishnan pinned to a sketch of a faceless woman in the background, Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas announced her as "the leading lady” of his upcoming film Identity. "Excited to join hands for an amazing movie together!! Gear up for an unforgettable ride, guys..!" Tovino said. Trisha, who is one of the most prominent women actors in south India, has acted in one Malayalam movie before this, in Nivin Pauly-starrer Hey Jude directed by Shyamaprasad.
Directed by Akhil Paul and Anas Khan, Identity is expected to release on September 23. Tovino said in his post, "Super excited and looking forward to an awesome shoot. Time to muscle up.. Loads of Action waiting down the line! (sic)."
In her Malayalam debut Hey Jude, a romantic comedy, Trisha played a woman with mental health problems while Nivin played Jude, a man with developmental disabilities. Even though she has appeared in just one Malayalam film so far (other than dubbed versions of popular Tamil films including the Ponniyin Selvan series), Trisha is hugely popular in Kerala.
Tovino's last release was 2018, a film based on the Kerala floods of that year, directed by Jude Anthany Joseph. The film — which released on the same day as the Hindi film The Kerala Story which made exaggerated, distorted claims on radicalisation of women in the state — was celebrated as the ‘real Kerala story’ and received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and audiences.