PremiumBhramam preview: All you need to know about Prithviraj, Raashi Khanna's Malayalam remake of Andhadhun
The movie, directed by Ravi K Chandran, is set to release on Amazon Prime Video in India and in theatres in rest of the world
Last Updated: 11.59 AM, Sep 30, 2021
It’s not often that a Bollywood film gets remade in Malayalam. For that reason alone, Prithviraj Sukumaran’s film Bhramam, which is directed by Ravi K Chandran, is an exciting film for fans.
The movie is the Malayalam remake of Ayushmann Khurrana’s 2018 superhit Andhadhun, which was directed by Sriram Raghavan. The shoot of the movie began in Fort Kochi by the end of January and it wrapped up by mid March.
Who plays who in Bhramam?
While Prithviraj plays Ayushmann’s role as the blind pianist, Tabu’s role in the original is essayed by Mamta Mohandas and Manav Vij’s role is portrayed by Unni Mukundan. Radhika Apte’s character will be essayed by Raashi Khanna, while yesteryear actor Shankar plays the role of Mamta’s husband, which was portrayed by Anil Dhawan in the Hindi movie.
The black comedy-thriller, about a musician pretending to be blind and getting tangled in a homicide, also has Surabhi Lakshmi, Sudhi Koppa, Shine Tom Chacko, Ananya Nair, Sudheer Karamana, Jagadish, Kunchan and Malavika Nair as part of the cast.
The movie also marks the first time that Unni Mukundan is teaming up with Prithviraj. Unni, who plays a cop in the film, had got his first big break in the industry after Prithviraj opted out of Mallu Singh and the makers decided to rope him in instead.
Meanwhile, Mamta and Prithviraj had earlier collaborated in movies such as Celluloid, Anwar and 9.
Bhramam marks the acclaimed cinematographer Ravi K Chandran’s second directorial after the Tamil movie Yaan in 2014. He has also cranked the camera for the movie with cinematographer Jomon T John canning a song. The film's music is composed by Jakes Bejoy, who had earlier worked with Prithviraj in Kuruthi and Ayyappanum Koshiyum
Why make a Malayalam remake for Andhadhun?
Andhadhun’s success prompted a series of remakes in the South. The firs announcement was of a Tamil version titled Andhagan, which is directed by Thiagarajan and has Prashanth, Simran and Priya Anand as part of the cast. The Telugu remake Maestro, which released on Disney+ Hotstar on September 17, had Nithiin, Tamannaah and Nabha Natesh playing the pivotal roles.
In an earlier interview with OTTplay, Prithviraj had told us, “I was shooting Lucifer when Andhadhun hit theatres. It was Vivek Oberoi who told me that there is this film that I should do in Malayalam. So, I asked him why and he said, ‘I saw the movie and you would be great in it’. After that, I got busy making my film. Months later, (producer) Mukesh R Mehta came to me and said, ‘We have an opportunity to do this and would you like to be part of it?’”
The Ayyappanum Koshiyum actor told OTTplay that he had his reasons to say yes. “I think it’s important that content not only travels from South to North. I think it’s crucial that down the line when a filmmaker makes a movie and that content can travel, it shouldn’t just be that South films are being remade. It would be nice to have the other way round too. I think Andhadhun as a film has content that lends itself very well to Malayalam. I hope I will be proven right when you see the movie,” he said.
The actor said that the challenge of remaking a movie like Andhadhun is that “it’s a hugely popular film and that’s also what is exciting about it.”
Some of the other recent Malayalam remakes of Hindi films include Manju Warrier’s Udaharanam Sujata (Nil Battey Sannata), Zam Zam (Queen), Unnam (Johnny Gaddaar) and Aamayum Muyalum (Malamaal Weekly).
When and where will Bhramam release?
In an interview soon after receiving his UAE Golden Visa, Prithviraj said that Bhramam will release on OTTs in India and in theatres in the Gulf countries, on the same day. He said that this phenomenon of releasing the movie on both platforms on the same day existed in the West before the pandemic too and has worked.
Following this, Amazon Prime Video made the official announcement that Bhramam will release on its platform in India on October 7. On the very same day, the movie will premiere across the world in theatres – making it the first Malayalam film to have simultaneous theatrical and OTT release.