Here’s Mohanlal as the young and trim Odiyan Manikyan!

After a two month long break, the third and final schedule of Mohanlal’s Odiyan commenced earlier this week. A hundred member crew comprising of the artists and technicians are sweating it out in Palakkad, the movie’s major location. Odiyan scripted by Harikrishnan is primarily about ‘odividya’, a kind of black magic practiced in medieval Kerala. People who practice odividya are called ‘odiyans’.

Mohanlal plays the role of odiyan Manikyan in the movie. Manju Warrier and veteran actor Prakash Raj also essay prominent roles. Odiyan’s story is set in three different timelines starting from the pre-electricity days in the 1950s to 2000. The movie follows Manikyan’s life from his childhood to his 60s. Manju Warrier portrays the role of Prabha and Prakash Raj’s character is named Ravunni.

In this ongoing schedule, the younger portions of these three lead characters are being shot. All three of them – Mohanlal, Manju Warrier and Prakash Raj – will be appearing in multiple looks in the movie. Taking everyone by surprise, Mohanlal had recently reduced around 18 kilos to play the younger version of his character Manikyan. Revealing his young odiyan look, Mohanlal posted a casual photo of his from the movie’s location in his official Facebook page.

Odiyan marks the directorial debut of renowned ad filmmaker VA Shrikumar Menon. The movie is being made as a mass entertainer with a mix of action, romance and magical realism. The cast also includes Innocent, Sana Althaf, Kailas, Naren and Siddique are also part of the supporting cast. Action choreographer Peter Hein, cinematographer Shaji Kumar, art director Prashanth Madhav, editor Sreekar Prasad, composers M Jayachandran, Sam CS and sound designer Resul Pookkutty form the movie’s technical crew.

Antony Perumbavoor is producing Odiyan under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas. The movie is expected to hit screens sometime by the end of this year.