Mohanlal in a still from Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham. (Source: Twitter/mohanlal)The teaser of Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s upcoming film Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham was screened at an event in Kochi on Sunday. The event named Aashirvadathode Lalettan was organised by Aashirvad Cinemas, the production banner behind many hit films of Mohanlal.
The main agenda of the star-studded event was to celebrate Mohanlal’s recent success at the box office and to promote his future projects. The highlight of the event was the screening of some visuals from Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham.
Roy CJ, the film’s co-producer, on Monday shared on his Facebook account a glimpse of Marakkar, which was shot on a mobile phone during yesterday’s screening. Going by the promo, the film seems to be a massive spectacle unlike anything seen before in the Malayalam film industry.
Written and directed by Priyadarshan, Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham is based on the life of Kunjali Marakkar IV, the decorated fourth Muslim naval chief of the Zamorin (Samoothiri), during the 16th century in Kerala. We get to see sequences of war on the sea, involving large ships, cannons and more. Also, Priyadarshan seems to have done a solid job recreating a period through costumes, trade, customs and practices of the 16th century.
According to reports, Priyadarshan described Marakkar as a gift to Mohanlal.
The period drama is being made at an estimated budget of Rs 100 crore, which makes it the most expensive film in the history of Malayalam cinema. It has a star-studded cast led by Mohanlal, who is playing the titular role. It also stars A-listers like Arjun Sarja, Sunil Shetty, Prabhu Deva, Prabhu, Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Pranav Mohanlal among others.
The film was shot over a period of three months earlier this year at massive sets built in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. However, the filmmakers said that the special effects work would take nearly a year to complete. The film has been in post-production phase for seven months now.
Marakkar will hit the screens next year simultaneously in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. The filmmakers will release the Hindi version later.
