Exclusive! Lal and Lena to make their OTT debut, Delhi Crime creators’ next series to feature Malayalam stars

The pandemic and consequent rise of OTTs have helped throw the spotlight on Malayalam cinema’s content and actors. While actors such as Neeraj Madhav and Dinesh Panicker had made their web series much before the pandemic with The Family Man in 2019, several Malayalam actors are now set to make foray into the digital space this year.

Dulquer Salmaan has recently already wrapped up his portions for web debut , Guns and Gulaabs – which is a Netflix series helmed by The Family Man creators Raj Nidimoru and Krishna DK. Up next, we hear that actor-director Lal and Lena are also gearing up to make their debuts.

Both Lena and Lal will be playing pivotal roles in their respective series that will be streaming on leading OTT platforms, respectively. Lal had recently shared an image of the scriptbook from a Netflix project that was titled Soup, which will be produced by McGuffin Pictures – the makers of Raat Akeli Hain and Sharmaji Namkeen.

Lena, who had previously made her Bollywood debut with Raja Krishna Menon’s Airlift, too has signed a web series, a source confirms to OTTplay. Mollywood actor and casting director Dinesh Panicker is also part of Farhan Akhtar’s web show Dongri to Dubai and Raja Krishna Menon’s social satire web series Baba Black Sheep – both of which are expected to stream on Amazon Prime Video.

That’s not all, the source also adds that the makers of Netflix’s acclaimed series Delhi Crime are also planning their next, which will be shot in Kerala. “The project will also have a few leading Malayalam actors as part of the cast. The announcement will be made soon,” the source explains.

Richie Mehta, who wrote and directed the International Emmy Award-winning show, was last year roped in to helm a series of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy based on Dominique Lapierre and Javier Moro’s book Five Past Midnight in Bhopal. It’s unclear whether the upcoming project is the same.

Meanwhile, Prithviraj Sukumaran is also set to direct and act in a web series based on Rajan Pillai, known as Biscuit Baron. The web series is expected to go on floors this year after the actor completes shooting for Blessy’s Aadujeevitham.

Also read: Exclusive! Dulquer: I would never rejoice at someone else’s failure as I know the effort that goes into a film