Exclusive! Mammootty-Jeo Baby movie to be a family drama, 'Jyothika is yet to sign the film'

After helming movies such as The Great Indian Kitchen, Freedom Fight and Sree Dhanya Catering Service, director Jeo Baby is set to work on probably the biggest film of his career, starring Mammootty. Rumours are rife that the movie, which could be the megastar’s next after Christopher, will also have Jyotika in the lead.

OTTplay reached out to a source close to the director to know more about the movie as well as the dream casting he has pulled off. The source told us that the movie will be a family drama. “The movie will take about a month and a half to go on floors. We are in talks with Jyotika to play the female lead but she is yet to sign the film,” says the source.

Jyotika had previously acted in two Malayalam movies – Priyadarshan’s Raakkilipattu and TK Rajeevkumar’s Seetha Kalyanam, which had her starring opposite Jayaram. The upcoming movie, if she comes onboard, will be her first Malayalam movie since her comeback.

Meanwhile, in an earlier interview, Jeo Baby had stated he considers directing Mammootty a huge responsibility. “I am excited that I am getting to do a movie with him. I am not worried, in fact, I believe it’s a responsibility,” he said, adding that the filmmaker believes the megastar will only make the character he conceived even better because of his experience.

The team had narrated the script to the actor earlier this year and he had given the nod. They are currently reworking certain portions of the film based on the megastar’s suggestions, Jeo had said.

Mammootty, meanwhile, has recently completed the shoot of B Unnikrishnan’s action-thriller Christopher and director Ranjith’s segment titled Kadugannawa Oru Yathra in the Netflix anthology based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s stories. The actor also has three films ready for release – Nissam Basheer’s Rorschach, Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam and Surender Reddy’s Telugu action thriller Agent starring Akhil Akkineni.