Maamankam, a Malayalam historical film with Mammootty in the lead, has been compared to the Telugu magnum opus Baahubali on various platforms. Reacting to the comparisions, Mammootty in an interview to Times Now said, “Baahubali scale we cannot touch...but visually we are trying. Because we have erected a big set. It has to be one of a kind in South. Also, we don't depend more on VFX. Maybe 10-15 percent of the film but not more than that. It's original set erected, no painting, no green mat, no blue mat. It's all real and that will bring more reality to the story and make it look more realistic.”
The magnum opus Maamankam is one of the most expensive films being made in the Malayalam film industry. The film revolves around the life of the warriors known as Chaaverukal, who plot against the Zamorin ruler to overthrow them. It is based on the Maamaankam festival celebrated during the 17th century, in which warriors from different parts of the country would arrive on the banks of the Bharatapuzha to fight against each other to prove their superiority.
Made on a budget of Rs 50 crore, the film began its production with debut director Sajeev Pillai wielding the megaphone. But due to creative differences with the producer, noted filmmaker M Padma Kumar was brought in to replace Sajeev.
The film has four heroines - Prachi Desai, Prachi Tehlan, Malavika Menon and Abhirami V Iyer in the cast and those playing supporting roles in it would be Unni Mukundan, Neeraj Madhav, Sunil Sukhada, Meghanathan and Sohan Seenulal.
The technical team has Ganesh Rajavelu aka Jim Ganesh wielding the camera, M Jayachandran scoring the music, Sreekar Prasad in charge of the editing, and Kaecha Khamphakdee choreographing the stunts. The film is bankrolled by Venu Kunnampilly under the banner Kavya Films.
(Content provided by Digital Native)