Touted as the most expensive Mollywood film, Mohanlal starrer Odiyan marks the directorial debut of VA Shrikumar Menon, who is an accomplished ad-filmmaker.
Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s much-awaited big-budget film Odiyan is all set to hit a record number of screens this Friday. Touted as the most expensive Mollywood film, Odiyan marks the directorial debut of VA Shrikumar Menon, who is an accomplished ad-filmmaker. The filmmakers have been pulling out all the stops to ensure the film gets the biggest opening matching the scale and budget of the production.
Here are five reasons that make the Mohanlal starrer the hottest movie ticket this weekend.
Supernatural folklore
After a long time, we have a Malayalam film that is returning to a legend of the supernatural world in Kerala. The members of Odiyan clan were believed to be sorcerers, who possessed the powers to transform into any form they wanted and attack their targets.
A cold-blooded assassin or a superhero?
Odiyans were believed to be trained assassins who were hired by nobel men to settle scores with their rivals. According to the legend, the members of the clan gained their supernatural powers by following brutal rituals that claimed human lives. That sounds like a premise for a stomach-churning horror story? But, ask Shrikumar Menon, he will disagree. The director says that it’s a movie for kids. He even terms Odiyan as Kerala’s first superhero movie. It will be interesting to see how Shrikumar and his screenwriter Harikrishnan have reimagined a dreaded supernatural assassin as a superhero that would be loved by kids.
Mohanlal
Mohanlal had played a sorcerer in director A Vincent’s horror film Sreekrishna Parunthu (1984). And after a gap of nearly four decades, the actor returns to this kind of film with Odiyan. The 58-year-old actor had also gone an extra mile to play the role. He lost about 18-kg body weight to play the 35-year-old version of his character.
A large-scale production
The Malayalam film industry has led the way when it comes to making content-driven, low-budget movies with naturalistic performances. Odiyan is being marketed as the most expensive film ever produced in Malayalam cinema. Talking at the audio launch in Dubai, VA Shrikumar Menon promised that Odiyan will set a benchmark in Malayalam cinema in terms of producing spectacle-laden big-ticket movies.
Cast and crew
Shrikumar has also been ambitious in putting together a solid star cast and technical crew. National-Award winning stunt choreographer Peter Hein has lent his expertise to the fantasy drama. Composers M. Jayachandran and Sam C. S. have scored for the film, while cinematographer Shaji Kumar has shot the film. Besides Mohanlal, the film also stars Manju Warrier, Prakash Raj, Innocent and Siddique among others in supporting roles.