Kunal Kapoor thanks Mammootty
Bollywood actor Kunal Kapoor is making his Malayalam debut through ace filmmaker Jayaraj’s epic movie Veeram. The movie is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It revolves around the life of warrior Chandu Chekavar, played by Kunal Kapoor
Mammootty has earlier played the character Chandu Chekvar in the movie Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, considered as a cult classic. He went on to win the National award that year for his stunning performance in the movie. Kunal Kapoor in a recent interview said he is grateful to Mammootty for immortalising the character of Chandu.
He said, “While I was in Kerala, I was overwhelmed to see that people could identify well with Chandu. Thanks to Mammootty sir for making my Mollywood entry easy.”
The actor also added that the movie will be very unique, set in a different background. It is an adaptation of Macbeth told through the characters of Vadakkan Pattukal.
Strangely, Kunal Kapoor is yet to watch Mammootty’s Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha. He didn’t watch the movie intentionally as he felt that he might consciously or sub consciously try to imitate him.
Veeram was made with a budget of around 35 crores. It is jointly produced by Chandramohan Pillai and Pradeep Rajan of Chandrakala Arts. Action choreographer Allan Poppleton, who has worked in Hollywood films like Lord of the Rings and Avatar is choreographing the action sequences in the movie.
Award winning composer Jeff Rona is handling the music department for the movie. Oscar and Emmy award winning make-up artist Trefor Proud has also worked in Veeram.
The movie is being made as a trilingual in Malayalam, Hindi and English. There will be dubbed versions in Tamil and Telugu also. Veeram was screened in the 21st International Film Festival of Kerala last year (IFFK).