Exclusive! Nivin Pauly reveals why he didn’t play a double role in Mahaveeryar and roped Asif Ali in

The Abrid Shine directorial has Nivin Pauly essaying the role of an ascetic while Asif Ali plays a warrior-minister from the past

Asif Ali and Nivin Pauly in stills from Mahaveeryar

Nivin Pauly is all set for his first theatrical release since the pandemic with director Abrid Shine’s Mahaveeryar, which hits theatres on July 21. The time-travel, courtroom drama has Nivin essaying the role of an ascetic named Apoornnannthan while Asif Ali plays the role of a warrior-minister from the past.

Initially, Abrid, who had previously worked with Nivin in 1983 and Action Hero Biju, had planned to cast Nivin in both the roles. It was the actor’s idea to rope Asif in for the movie, which also has Lal, Lalu Alex and Shanvi Srivastava playing pivotal characters.

Also read: Exclusive! Nivin Pauly: Mahaveeryar tackles a global issue, asks pertinent questions through a beautiful narrative

In an exclusive interview with OTTplay, Nivin tells us, “Abrid Shine had suggested that but I personally thought it was better if someone else plays it. Another actor brings something new and that results in a totally different dynamic between these characters. You get a totally different energy and performance, and I thought that would work better for the film. That’s how we approached Asif for the movie.”

The film marks the reunion of both the actors after a gap of almost a decade. The duo has shared screen space in movies such as Traffic and Sevenes, and had begun their acting careers around the same time. Working in Mahaveeryar together made for great memories, says Nivin.

“It was fun to come together after such a long time. When we didn’t have shoots, we spent a lot of time together and used to go for night drives. This movie made for a lot of fun experiences that way,” Nivin explains.

Though the movie has two of Malayalam leading actors, Nivin says that the real hero of the film is its script. “We are all just playing characters in the movie,” he says. The actor also explains that the film is made in a way that “even if a non-Indian watches it, they should think that the film’s making has a certain level of quality and the team has put in that effort”. “I believe that has reflected and the scenes have come out well,” he concludes.

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