Release of Mammootty’s The Priest, Mohanlal's Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham pushed

Malayalam superstar Mammootty-starrer The Priest, which was supposed to release on 4 March, has been delayed. In a Facebook post shared by director Jofin T Chacko, it has been revealed that the film will not be hitting the screens on its scheduled date. Stating that they plan to release the film on the same day worldwide, Jofin said it will not be beneficial to release it now, as cinema halls are functional in many countries of the world like Saudi, Oman and Dubai.

As reported by The Indian Express, the director also said that the Kerala government has also not allowed the second shows of the movies to run right now. The report mentions Jofin saying that as a result, they would lose the family audience as they prefer to watch the second show.

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In the state of Kerala, government authorities have allowed the theatres to run at the occupancy of 50 percent due to the pandemic. However, in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, theatres are operating at 100 percent occupancy.

Although the debutant director has informed that the movie is not releasing on 4 March, he has not revealed a new release date.

The debutant director said that he has grown up watching Mammoothy’s films and feels lucky that he is directing the actor in his debut film. Jofin informed the fans that around 80 percent of the film’s shooting was done when it had to be stopped due to the pandemic. Jofin said that the film got completed when the shooting resumed eight months after it was stopped.

Apart from The Priest, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal's Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham has also been postponed. The new release date of the film is 13 April.

As per a report by The Business Standard, Kerala recorded 1,938 cases of on Monday, 1 March.