Marakkar: The Lion of Arabian Sea's shoot to begin on Dec 1

Mohanlal and Priyadarshan

After two years, the biggest names in the Malayalam industry - director Priyadarshan and versatile superstar Mohanlal - will join hands yet again when the shooting for Marakkar: the Lion of Arabian Sea begins at the Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad on December 1. The last time the two worked together was for the 2016 film Oppam, which was a hit.

Priyadarshan told IANS that things are all falling in place for the new movie. "The schedule is such that 75 per cent of the film would be shot in the Film City, with Ooty and Rameshwaram taking the rest of the film's space," said Priyadarshan, who resides in Chennai and shuttles between Thiruvananthapuram and Hyderabad.

The film tells the tale of Kunhali Marakkar, the famous naval chief of the Zamorin of Calicut, often known for organising the first naval defense of the Indian coast.

On expected lines, Mohanlal, known for his flexibility and adaptability to any character, will play the key role of Marakkar, while his son and upcoming talent Pranav plays a cameo as the 'young Mohanlal'.

The chemistry between Priyadarshan and Mohanlal has time and again proved to be superhit. Keerthy Suresh, daughter of producer Suresh Kumar and yesteryear actress Maneka, has a key role in the film.

Asked about the budget, Priyadarshan shrugged and said except that, all other things are ready.

"Sabu Cyril is working on the sets and another thing that at the moment cannot be worked out is the cost factor, as the post-production is going to be held abroad. The music and background score is also going to cost a bit. Hence, we decided not to think about the budget at the moment," added the master director.

The star cast includes thespian Madhu, Manju Warrier, other actors from south India and Bollywood, besides four British actors and one Chinese actor.

"The costumes are also getting ready as the star cast has been finalised. Thiru will crank the camera and this time I have decided to do another experiment and will ask three different music directors to do one song each, while a fourth one would be entrusted to do one song where there will be no singer but only an instrumental one," added the 61-year-old veteran who has done 91 commercial films in his close to four-decade-long career.

Priyadarshan signed off by saying that the shooting will end on March 15 next year and the film would be released only in 2020 as he is going to give the maximum attention to post-production work.

The film is being produced by Antony Perumbavoor, Santhosh T. Kuruvilla and C.J. Roy.

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