Alone vs Thankam: Mohanlal’s thriller to clash with Biju Menon’s crime drama on Republic Day

Mollywood’s first major box office clash in 2023 will have superstar Mohanlal’s Alone taking on Biju Menon and Vineeth Sreenivasan’s crime drama Thankam on Republic Day. The makers of the latter took to their social media to announce that Thankam, which is helmed by debutant Saheed Arafath, will hit theatres on January 26.

Thankam, which also has Aparna Balamurali, is produced by Fahadh Faasil, Dileesh Pothan and Syam Pushkaran under their banner Bhavana Studios, with the latter being its scriptwriter. The movie, which had completed shooting last year, is a crime drama that also has Girish Kulkarni in a pivotal role and is extensively set in Tamil Nadu.

Also read: Vineeth Sreenivasan: For Thankam, neither I nor Biju Menon read the script before going to the sets | Exclusive 

Vineeth, in an earlier interview with OTTplay, said that it was probably one of those sets where the artistes didn’t turn up reading the script and learning the dialogues by rote, as Syam would discuss with them the content before they shot the scene.

“Syam would keep talking to us about the story and the characters, and by the time those discussions are over, the dialogues we have to say and the emotions we have to portray are etched in our minds. All we have to do then is just to say those lines,” said the actor, adding that the film was also his first ever project to be shot in sync sound.

Meanwhile, Mohanlal’s Alone, which is scripted by Rajesh Jayaraman, is a single-actor movie set during the lockdown. The pandemic thriller, which will release exactly 23 years after Mohanlal and Shaji Kailas’ Narasimham hit theatres, also features voices of Prithviraj Sukumaran, Manju Warrier, Mallika Sukumaran and Siddique.

Alone, which was initially made for a direct-to-OTT release, is produced by Aashirvad Cinemas and will be the superstar’s first release this year. He also has Spadikam 4K and Barroz: The Guardian of D’Gama’s Treasure set for release in February and March, respectively.