PremiumExclusive! Antony Varghese’s Aanaparambile World Cup ties up with Kerala Blasters ahead of ISL
The Nikhil Premraj directorial has the actor playing the role of a footballer who coaches an U-14 team
Last Updated: 07.15 AM, Oct 07, 2022
Malayalam actor Antony Varghese will be hoping to extend his winning streak with the football season kicking off on October 7 with the Indian Super League (ISL). The actor, whose previous theatrical films have all been hits, is gearing up for the release of Aanaparambile World Cup, which had its trailer launch in Kochi on Thursday.
The makers of the fantasy sports-drama, which has the actor essaying the role of a footballer who coaches a U-14 team, has now tied up with ISL’s Kerala Blasters, reveals its director Nikhil Premraj in an exclusive chat.
“We were also able to associate with Kerala Blasters as part of the movie,” says the debutant filmmaker. “A few of the players will be attending the film’s preview as well as promotions. Some of the players will also be sharing the movie’s trailers on their pages and we can also do some promotions while the ISL is on.”
Apart from Antony, the movie also has Balu Varghese, Sudhi Koppa, Jumana Khan, TG Ravi, IM Vijayan, Lukman Avaran and Nishanth Sagar. The film had wrapped up production ahead of the pandemic and has been looking for a proper release date since theatres reopened in 2021 after the second lockdown.
“We had initially planned a May release but we couldn’t finalise the OTT deal. We got a good offer initially because all of Antony’s theatrical releases had done really well. However, streaming services had bought a few Malayalam films for huge prices but none of them got the expected returns. This impacted our movie too and they backed out,” says Nikhil, who has scripted the venture.
The director, however, says that the leading OTT platform backing out has actually helped the movie. “It’s a blessing in disguise because the release date has now been pushed to late October. The ISL is about to kick off and a month after its theatrical release, we will have the football World Cup. Aanaparambile World Cup is the only football film to release during the time,” he says.