After Anu Sithara, Kaniha also joins Maamaankam team

‘Maamaankam’ shoot is progressing with the new director M Padmakumar calling the shots. After the controversial ousting of the movie’s original director Sajeev Pillai, the makers have gone for a complete overhaul on the cast and crew. Unni Mukundan replaced Druvan and Anu Sithara was signed as one of the female leads. Latest addition to the cast is Kaniha. The actress shared the big news recently through her official social media handle.

‘Maamaankam’ is an epic big-scale film that is based on the medieval fair, Maamaankam, where brave warriors from across the country would come together to showcase their skills at combat. Mammootty plays the lead role of a ferocious ‘Chaaver’ (warrior) in this movie, which revolves around the life of warriors who plot to defeat the Zamorin rulers. Initially, Bollywood actress Prachi Desai, Prachi Tehlan, Malavika Menon and former Miss Tamil Nadu Abhirami V Iyer were roped in to play the female leads.

However, following the fall out between director Sajeev Pillai and the production team, the makers opted for an all Malayalam cast. Anu Sithara, Kaniha and a couple of other heroines are also expected to be part of the movie. Anu Sithara has previously worked with Mammootty in ‘Oru Kuttanadan Blog’ while Kaniha has the experience of sharing screen space with the megastar in another period film, ‘Pazhassiraja’.

Venu Kunnappilly of Kavya Films is producing ‘Maamaankam’. As per the makers, shoot will be wrapped up by the first half of the year and the release is scheduled for year end.