Baahubali writer Vijayendra Prasad, Vijeesh Mani team up for a martial arts-based period drama

The Mollywood filmmaker and the veteran scriptwriter had been working on the project for the past three years,

KV Vijayendra Prasad and Vijeesh Mani

There has already been a slew of announcements of movies to be written by Baahubali and RRR writer KV Vijayendra Prasad lately including the sequel of Salman Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan. The latest in the list is Malayalam filmmaker Vijeesh Mani’s upcoming big budget film.

Vijeesh, who had earlier helmed Namo and Netaji, tells OTTplay, “I had been in talks with Vijayendra sir for the past three years and we announced that we are collaborating two years ago. However, it took time for things to fall in place, with him being busy with RRR. Now, everything is finalised and we are hoping to begin shoot by this year itself.”

On the movie, the filmmaker says, “This is a pan-Indian, big budget film. It’s set in the sixth century with the subject giving prominence to martial arts. Apart from various languages across India, we will also be dubbing it in Mandarin. The film will also have a few Chinese artistes as part of the cast. My previous works have all been made for film festivals, but this movie, especially because it’s Vijayendra sir’s script, is a commercial film.”

While Vijeesh says that the production of the movie is yet to be confirmed, he says that the lead actor will not be from the Malayalam film industry. “The film won’t have too many stars from Malayalam, but there will be a lot of technicians from Mollywood. The kalarippayattu artistes will be from Kerala and I am currently working with them. We need the lead actor to dedicate almost six months for training and that too immediately. Plus, being a pan-Indian film, we also want someone who has that star value. We will be announcing the title and cast soon,” he tells us.

Vijayendra Prasad, meanwhile, has also scripted Thalaivi and is working on the biopic of Maharashtra-based teacher Ranjitsinh Disale, who was honoured with the Global Teacher Prize last year.

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