Mohanlal has been an integral part of Mollywood and the Malayali psyche, which is largely ruled by politics and sports, for the past 37 years. He has an enviable fan following that almost borders on being fanatic. The fans’ blind devotion will now be translated on screen thanks to Sajid Yahiya who is taking his second shot at direction through the upcoming film Mohanlal.
The super star may not be acting, but the talented Manju Warrier will be playing a hardcore Mohanlal fan. The first poster of the film, released on May 21 which was also the superstar’s birthday, shows a starry-eyed Manju with a younger Mohanlal reflected in her glasses. The poster has been trending on social media and a happy Sajid says, “I could not think of a much better day than May 21 to release the film’s poster.” Sajid says he has taken the consent of the actor for the use of his name in the title. Revealing more about the film, Sajid, who has also penned the story for the film, says, “Manju plays the role of Meenukutty, a bubbly woman who is a hardcore fan of Mohanlal. She is married Sethumadhavan, played by Indrajith. He knows her since school days and loves her above anything.”
On casting Manju, the director says, “I knew only Manju could do justice to the character of Meenukutty and she was very excited when I narrated the story to her. Soon afterwards I gave her the complete script and she liked it.” The film is not just about portraying the life of a fan, Sajid says. “There is more to it. While there are fun elements, the film also has a lot of emotional content and moments, too. It takes a look at the husband-wife relationship and each frame has an element of Mohanlal attached to it. It looks at the influence of the actor on the lives of the common men.”
And that’s not all. “We are looking at roping in a real Mohanlal fan from each district to act in the film who can show his real-life fan worship on reel.” Obviously a lot of homework has gone behind the scripting as well as the character sketches of the film. “The challenge is manifold for me as Mohanlal has a huge fan base in the state. The film will start rolling from May 28 and stars Soubin, Aju Varghese, KPAC Lalitha, Usha Uthup and Anjali in prominent roles and is produced by Anil Kumar.
