Mammootty, Ranjith to go ahead with Sri Lanka schedule of Kadugannawa Oru Yathra despite country's crisis

Despite Sri Lanka suffering its worst economic crisis, the makers of the Malayalam feature Kadugannawa Oru Yathra, starring Mammootty, will be going ahead with their plans of shooting in the island country later this month.

The segment, which is part of the Netflix anthology based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s stories, is directed by Ranjith and marks his latest collaboration with the megastar after a gap of five years. The featurette will go on floors in Ottappalam, Kerala, on August 16 and will shift location to Sri Lanka as soon as they wrap up the Kerala portions.

Also read: Mohanlal, Mammootty and Fahadh star in Netflix’s anthology on MT Vasudevan Nair’s stories, here’s all we know 

Kadugannawa Oru Yathra is based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s memoir of a trip to the island country during his stint as a journalist in a Malayalam daily. The segment revolves around his search for a girl, whom he had met as a child, and the writer tracing her roots. The memoir was designed as a continuation of his short story Ninte Ormakku.

Mammootty will be playing a character named PK Venugopal, based on the legendary writer himself, in the segment which is touted to be at least 40 minutes in duration. This is also the first Malayalam venture to be shot in the island country since the pandemic.

Director Lijo Jose Pellissery was initially attached to helm the short film, which is part of the nine segments that comprise the anthology. The Jallikattu filmmaker reportedly opted out, with Ranjith coming in his place. Kadugannawa Oru Yathra is also the last segment to be filmed for the anthology, which also features short films by directors Priyadarshan, Jayaraj, Santosh Sivan, Mahesh Narayanan, Shyamaprasad, Rathish Ambat and MT Vasudevan Nair’s daughter Ashwathy.

The anthology comprises the best talents of the industry including Mohanlal, Fahadh Faasil, Biju Menon, Aparna Balamurali, Durga Krishna, Siddique, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Asif Ali, Madhoo, Shanthi Krishna, Indrans, Renji Panicker and the late Nedumudi Venu.