“I feel like Kamala is standing in front of me”, exclaims Kamala Das’s sister after seeing Manju Warrier in the sets of Aami

After entwining in a lot of controversies and speculations, director Kamal has finally kick started the shoot for his ambitious project Aami, the biopic on late writer Madhavikutty aka Kamala Das.

Manju Warrier is playing the lead role in the movie. The official first look poster was released yesterday. Manju Warrier in the poster resembles the writer’s younger days with the long hair and round glasses.

Director Kamal had initially roped in Bollywood actress Vidya Balan to play the lead role. However, the actress opted out of the project owing to creative differences with the director. She backed off from Aami, after she was unhappy with the last minute changes in the script.

After Kamal roped in Manju Warrier for the project, the actress was targeted by cyber bullies for collaborating with Kamal and doing such a controversial subject. Kamala Das’s life was also not short of controversies mainly due to her bold writings and her conversion to Islam.

Even after Manju was signed for the project, still there doubts regarding Manju’s looks. However, the dedicated actress put on a few kilos prior to the shoot. Madhavikutty’s sister felt that Manju Warrier looked exactly like how her sister was in her younger days.

She had visited the sets yesterday when she saw Manju with the make up and long hair that reminded her of Madhavikutty’s younger days. Director Kamal considers it as a very big compliment.

Prithviraj Sukumaran and Murali Gopy are said to be playing important roles in the movie. Aami will be produced by P T Rafel and Roban Rocha on a budget of 5 Crores.

M Jayachandran and Thoufeeq Quershi will be handling the music director. Veteran Sreekar Prasad is the editor while Oscar award winning sound designer Resul Pookkutty is also part of the technical team.