Exclusive! Manju Warrier’s Ayisha will largely feature Arab actors, says director Aamir Pallikal

At a time when pan-Indian films have become the norm, Manju Warrier’s next Ayisha has pushed the envelope. The movie, directed by debutant Aamir Pallikkal, will be releasing in Malayalam and Arabic.

 Talking to OTTplay, Aamir, who has assisted director Zakariya in Sudani from Nigeria and Halal Love Story, tells us, “Ayisha is a family movie with fun and entertaining elements. It’s also probably the first commercial Malayalam film to have an Indo-Arab backdrop and be released in Malayalam and Arabic.” A few years ago, Salim Ahammed’s National Award-winning film Adaminte Makan Abu had been dubbed in Arabic and Turkish too and had a limited theatrical release in the countries.

 Ayisha, meanwhile, will also have a cast largely comprising actors from the Gulf. “Along with Manju chechi, the cast will predominantly consist of Arab actors because we will be shooting in the Middle East. Right now, we are planning to begin the shoot in Qatar at the end of the year,” says the director.

 Ask him if Manju is the only actor from Malayalam and Aamir tells us, “There will be other actors from Malayalam too, but most of the actors will be from other languages – Arabic, Tamil and Hindi. We have listed the Arab actors we want to rope in and will be approaching them soon.”

 Ayisha is scripted by Aashif Kakkodi, who was the co-writer of Momo in Dubai and Halal Love Story. He had also written the dialogues for Vinay Forrt’s Thamasha. Sundani from Nigeria’s director Zakariya will be producing Ayisha.

 Manju, meanwhile, also has Lalitham Sundaram, Meri Awas Suno, Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham and Ahr’ Kayattam ready for release.

Also read: Madhu Warier talks about working with sister Manju Warrier in Lalitham Sundaram