Mahabharata producer reveals why Mohanlal was chosen to play Bheeman in the 1000 cr project!

A massive project on the Indian epic Mahabharata was announced a few month back and ever since then it has been in the news columns. Touted to be the most expensive Indian movie, The Mahabharata will be directed by renowned ad filmmaker VA Shrikumar.

The Mahabharata is written by MT Vasudevan Nair based on his novel Randamoozham. The novel was an adaptation of Mahabharata told from the perspective of Bheeman. Mohanlal is playing the central character of Bheeman in this magnum opus.

UAE based BR Shetty is investing a whopping Rs 1000 crore on this project. In a recent interaction with Radio Mango UAE, the producer was asked why Mohanlal was selected to play the lead role.

BR Shetty instantly said, “Because I like his personality. Whatever the role be, he has got the physique and the heart to do it. He is not nose up but very down to earth. He is the best.”

Apart from Mohanlal, Telugu superstar Nagarjuna has been approached to play the role of Karna. The makers have already informed that many leading actors and technicians from India and across the globe will be associated with this project.

VA Shrikumar Menon and his team is currently working on the pre-production. Casting for the movie will commence within three months. They are planning to kick-start the shoot by August, next year. It will be made as a multilingual in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and English. This epic movie will be filmed in two parts and would have a worldwide release in 2020. The second part of the movie would be released from 90 days of the first part.

No high expectations! Lal Jose about Velipadinte Pusthakam

After years of speculation, Mohanlal and Lal Jose are finally working together. Shoot for their upcoming movie Velipadinte Pusthakam is currently progressing in Trivandrum. The duo were supposed to team up years back but the project could not materialize then. 

Velipadinte Pusthakam went on floors last month. The movie, written by Benny P Nayarambalam is a campus based entertainer in which Mohanlal will be seen as a college vice principal. Since Mohanlal and Lal Jose are teaming up after a long wait, expectations are certainly on the higher side. However in a recent interview, the director said that the audience should not have high expectations.

He is quoted saying, “I’m not really sure about the audience expectations on the movie. That is why we didn’t want a title that will raise the anticipation levels. High expectations can backfire so I want to keep it minimal. But I can assure you that the movie will satisfy all those who seek quality entertainment.”

Mohanlal is playing the role of professor Mathew Idicula in the movie. He is sporting a new look with long hair and closely trimmed beard. Angamaly Diaries fame Anna Reshma Rajan is the female lead. The movie will showcase the relationship between teachers and students.

Anoop Menon, Priyanka Nair, Angamaly Diaries fame Sarath Kumar, Aanandam fame Arun Kurian, Siddique, Jude Anthany Joseph, Alencier Ley Lopez and many other supporting actors are also part of the cast. Shaan Rahman is composing the music while Godha fame Vishnu Sarma will be cranking the camera.  The movie is produced by Mohanlal’s Aashirvad Cinemas. The makers are eyeing for an Onam release.

The Accidental Prime Minister : Biopic on former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

Veteran actor Anupam Kher will be seen portraying the role of former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in the upcoming film, titled The Accidental Prime Minister. Official first look poster of the movie was released today through the actor’s Twitter space.

Anupam Kher captioned the poster,

“To reinvent yourself as an actor is to challenge yourself. Looking forward to portraying #DrManmohanSingh in #TheAccidentalPrimeMinister. 🙂 (sic).”

In the poster, Anupam Kher is seen wearing a turban, beard and glasses and he has a striking resemblance to the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Accidental Prime Minister will be directed by Vijay Ratnakar Gutte. The movie’s screenplay is being written by renowned filmmaker Hansal Mehta.

The film is based on Sanjaya Baru’s book book, The Accidental Prime Minister : The Making And Unmaking of Manmohan Singh. Sanjaya Baru was the former Prime Minister’s media advisor from May 2004 to August 2008.

The Accidental Prime Minister is expected to hit the screens in December 2018.

Ajith feels that Jayaram’s salt and pepper look is better than his

Veteran actor Jayaram recently had a stylish makeover by sporting a salt n pepper look. He was seen in the new getup in his last two movies; Sathya and Achayans. The look suits him well and many have actually appreciated him for undergoing a look- wise transformation at this age.

Tamil superstar Ajith was the one who triggered the trend of salt n pepper look in the South with his uber cool look in Mankatha. He followed it up in movies like Aarambam, Veeram and Yennai Arindhaal. In fact, the actor is sporting the same look in his upcoming movie Vivegam.

Jayaram shares a very rapport with Ajith as they have acted together in films like Paramasivan and Aegan. Jayaram, in a recent interview, revealed what Ajith told him about the new getup.

Jayaram and Ajith’s wife Shalini play badminton together. Once he showed his getup to her and asked her to show it to Ajith. Later, Jayaram received a message from Ajith saying “Chetta, yours is better than mine”.

Jayaram is currently shooting for his upcoming movie Aakasha Mittayee, which marks the Malayalam debut of Samuthirakani as a director. It is the Tamil remake of his critically acclaimed movie Appa. Jayaram will once again be seen with a salt and pepper look as he is playing a teenager’s father in the movie.

Salman Khan comes up with a Baahubali like film

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan is currently busy with the promotions of his upcoming movie Tubelight. During a recent media interaction, Salman revealed that he will be soon teaming up with maverick filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The director is currently working on a Baahubali like historic drama for Salman Khan.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for churning out big budget movies on a huge scale. All his movies have an unique treatment that suits the period drama style movies. The director, who is a multiple national award winner has helmed several widely acclaimed films like Devdas, Black, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani.

When such an established filmmaker like Sanjay Leela Bhansali teams up with Salman Khan, who unarguably is one of the country’s biggest superstars, expectations will reach sky-high. If the director can come up with something on the lines of Baahubali, the movie will certainly create waves in the box office, riding on the massive fan base of Salman. The director is currently working on Padmavati, another period drama film featuring Deepika Padukone in the title role as Rani Padmini, alongside Shahid Kapoor and Ranveer Singh.

Meanwhile, Salman Khan’s Tubelight is all set to hit screens on June 23 as an Eid release. He is also simultaneously shooting for Tiger Zinda Hai with Katrina Kaif. The movie, directed by Ali Abbas Zafar is the sequel to his blockbuster spy thriller Ek Tha Tiger.

SS Rajamouli reveals his plans on Mahabharata

After the enormous success of the Baahubali franchise, several filmmakers across industries are planning to make period dramas on a huge scale. And the favourite theme of most directors is the Hindu epic Mahabharata.

A whopping Rs 1000 cr project on Mahabharata has been already in Malayalam cinema. The magnum opus, based on the novel Randamoozham, will be directed by renowned ad filmmaker VA Shrikumar Menon. Mohanlal and Nagarjuna have been confirmed to play some major roles. In fact, pre-production works for this epic film, which is also the most expensive Indian movie, has already commenced.

Earlier, SS Rajamouli had hinted about his wish to make a movie on Mahabharata. Ever since then, the audience have been waiting for an official word from the Baahubali director. In a recent interview to a Telugu channel, the director opened up about his plans on making this huge project.

He is quoted saying, “Mahabharata is a project that is very close to my heart. I’ve read many versions of Mahabharata from my childhood. So it is not easy to plunge straight into making such a big project. It will be difficult for me to work on it currently. I see this a 10 year project. But I have my doubts on how to handle this movie technically. Not just the technical aspects, we cannot just rope in some big stars and start shooting. Casting for each character should be perfect and they should be properly trained. All that is a challenging process and will take a lot of time. Apart from that, I want my Mahabharata to be unique. There have been several versions to it, so my work should be able to erase all the other versions that the audience are used to seeing. But I can’t say that I will have the same health and physical fitness after 8 years to helm such a project. Even then, I will definitely try to do it.”

Earlier in an interview, the director had said that, since the movie can only be made in a span of 5-6 years, actors would have to dedicate huge amount of time. So it will be practically very difficult for big stars to work on it. So they will have to make new stars out of the film, like how it is in the popular English TV show Game of Thrones.

Mammootty not a part of Rajinikanth’s Kaala

For the past few days, there have been several reports about Mammootty playing a pivotal role in superstar Rajinikanth’s upcoming movie Kaala. It was first reported by a national media and it soon spread like wild fire.

The first look poster of Kaala had Rajinikanth sitting on top of a jeep that had the number plate BR 1956. Interestingly, ‘BR’ symbolises the legendary social reformer Dr BR Ambedkar and the year he passed away. Following that there were speculations about the movie featuring some aspects about Ambedkar’s life. Since, Mammootty had earlier played the role of Ambedkar in his biopic, it was reported that the megastar will be appearing in Kaala as Ambedkar.

However, sources close to Mammootty have dismissed these reports as baseless. He is currently busy working on multiple projects. After having completed the first schedule of Ajai Vasudev’s Masterpiece, he will be joining the sets of noted ad filmmaker Sharrath Sandith’s debut directorial. So the rumours can now be put to rest. Rajinikanth and Mammootty last shared screen space in Mani Ratnam’s cult classic blockbuster Thalapathy.

Meanwhile, the shoot for Kaala is progressing at a brisk pace in Mumbai. The movie, directed by Kabali director Pa Ranjith is a gangster drama set in the backdrop of Mumbai city. Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi has been roped in to play the female lead. Nana Patekar, Samuthirakani, Anjali Patil, Sukanya and Sampath Raj.

Rajinikanth’s son-in-law and actor Dhanush is producing this gangster flick under his banner Wunderbar Films. Kaala will be dubbed and released in Hindi and Telugu as well. The makers are planning to wrap up the shoot by the end of the year and are planning to release it by the summer of 2018.