Exclusive! Jeethu Joseph reveals the link between Amitabh Bachchan’s Badla, Mohanlal’s Hotstar release 12th Man

A Mohanlal-Jeethu Joseph film is always awaited with bated breath by the Malayali audience ever since their first outing Drishyam went on to thrill the viewers and create box office records in the process. The duo did it again with its sequel and now are set for their third release – 12th Man.

The movie, which is set to drop on Disney+ Hotstar on May 20, is scripted by Krishnakumar KR. In an exclusive chat with OTTplay ahead of the movie’s direct-to-OTT release, Jeethu also revealed how the movie, which falls in the mystery genre, took shape.

Unlike some of the recent whodunits such as Death on the Nile or Knives Out, 12th Man has 12 core characters. Ask him about the scripting process of the film and the variables they had to control and Jeethu says, “The film’s scriptwriter Krishnakumar KR had taken up that challenge. We got the basic idea from filmmaker and producer Sunir Khetarpal, who had backed The Body and Badla. We developed the idea and Krishnakumar had penned the screenplay.”

The Drishyam 2 director concedes it was a tough process that took almost two years to complete. “Krishnakumar, who has also co-written the screenplay for my latest film Kooman, wrote the first draft of 12th Man and then reworked it a lot of times. When you watch the movie, you would know that it wasn’t an easy film to write. It’s a bit complex,” says the director, adding that he can go into the details of the film only after the film has been released.

12th Man, which marks Mohanlal’s third straight OTT release after Drishyam 2 and Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Bro Daddy, also has Unni Mukundan, Sshivada, Leona Lishoy, Anusree, Anu Sithara, Saiju Kurup, Chandunath, Anu Mohan, Rahul Madhav and Priyanka Nair. Mohanlal and Jeethu will next resume the shoot of their action-thriller Ram in July.

Also read: Mohanlal and Shaji Kailas’ Alone gearing up for release, actor begins dubbing for the film