Veeram to elevate Mollywood to the next level
Of late, we have been hearing a lot about big budget movies being planned in Mollywood. Pulimurugan’s gargantuan success inspired the filmmakers to plan movies on a bigger canvas. However, national award winner Jayaram’s epic historic drama Veeram was conceived before the recent triggering of big budget movies in Mollywood.
Veeram is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It is the fifth installment in director Jayaraj’s Navarasa series. The movie features Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor in the lead role of Chandu Chekavar, a warrior from the Vadakkan Pattukal of North Malabar region in Kerala.
Veeram has long been in the making and is finally gearing up for release on February 24. The movie is gaining unprecedented publicity for a Malayalam movie. The fact that the movie is based on the legendary writer William Shakespeare’s Macbeth has made heads turn and take notice of this epic historical drama. Veeram is certainly a giant leap from Malayalam industry to the bigger league.
Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan first shared the trailer in his official Twitter account followed by Aamir Khan who also appreciated Kunal Kapoor’s hardwork. The country’s biggest superstar Amitabh Bachchan, released the official theme song of the movie today through his official Facebook page. Such big names promoting the movie positively has helped the movie to gain notice outside Kerala.
Kunal Kapoor worked hard for months to develop a warrior’s physique in addition to learning sword fight and the martial art, Kalaripayattu for playing his part in the movie. Other supporting actors in the movie are mostly newcomers.
The team shot most portions in the Ajanta and Ellora caves in Aurangabad and Agra. Jayaraj roped in some popular names from the west to handle the technical departments of the movie.
Allan Poppleton, who has worked in Hollywood films like Lord of the Rings and Avatar has choreographed the stunts in the movie. Award winning composer Jeff Rona, who was an associate of the legendary Hans Zimmer, is handling the music department. Oscar and Emmy award winning make-up artist Trefor Proud is also part of the technical team of Veeram. The movie is jointly produced by Chandramohan Pillai and Pradeep Rajan of Chandrakala Arts. The movie was screened at several film festivals like BRICS Film Festival, IFFK and IFFI, Goa.
The involvement of some big names, the impressive promos and the promotions by Bollywood stars have helped the movie a great deal in making the right buzz prior to release. All eyes now on February 24, to see whether the movie can live up to the expectations.
