The trailer for Prithviraj's first directorial Lucifer was released at 9 pm on Wednesday. The film stars Mohanlal and Manju Warrier in lead roles, apart from a host of other stars including Tovino Thomas, Indrajith, Vivek Oberoi, Kalabhavan Shajohn and others.
The trailer begins with Mohanlal's voice-over narrating a story about a highly valued political leader and a tale of betrayal which leads to his death. Manju Warrier appears to be the politician's daughter. Mohanlal as Stephen Nedumpally is the crafty politician who replaces the leader. Vivek Oberoi seems to be the antagonist and he can be heard making an offer to Stephen to smuggle drugs into the state. The whole trailer is rich in Biblical allusions. Tovino Thomas is seen as a suave young man who also tries his hand at politics.
The trailer has become an instant hit, building up adequate suspense and intrigue among viewers. It ends with Stephen, Mohanlal's character, built up as the paragon of evil (as Lucifer is in Christian mythology), who is pitted against another evil. Others like Indrajith and Kalabhavan Shajohn are also seen in the trailer.
The team has been tight-lipped about the film so far and fans have only been able to make informed guesses through the character reveals. Scripted by Murali Gopy, Lucifer is supposedly a political thriller.
According to reports, the film was initially supposed to have been directed by the late Rajesh Pillai, but Prithviraj took over in 2016. But Prithviraj has clarified that this was another project and that this is not the Rajesh Pillai film. The film has been produced by Antony Perumbavoor under his banner Aashirvad Cinemas and is expected to enjoy a wide release on March 28.
Prithviraj's most recent release was 9, which was the first film to be produced by Prithviraj Productions. The film opened to moderately good reviews but did not set the box-office on fire. Prithviraj also played the lead role in the film.
Mohanlal and Manju Warrier were seen together last in Odiyan, a fantasy period film which opened to huge anticipation but received near unanimous poor reviews. The film marked ad filmmaker VA Shrikumar's debut directorial and was among the most expected films of 2018. However, it was heavily criticised for its unimaginative plot and storytelling.
Lucifer has music by Deepak Dev. The cinematography has been done by Sujith Vaassudev.
Watch: