Prithviraj Sukumaran: Mohanlal’s Empuraan will have events before and after Lucifer’s timeline

Ever since the blockbuster Lucifer hit theatres in 2019, one question has always hounded its director Prithviraj Sukumaran. When is Empuraan coming out? While during the course of the past three years, the actor-director has made several announcements, recently he finally revealed a bit more about what the movie will encompass.

The movie’s scriptwriter Murali Gopy in previous interviews said it wouldn’t be fair to call Empuraan, a sequel of Lucifer, and said he preferred to call it the next instalment in the franchise. Prithviraj, in a recent interview with online channels, revealed whether the film is a prequel or a sequel to the Mohanlal-starrer.

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“It is a big movie, in the sense that the scope of the story is big. The film will have events that happened before and after Lucifer’s timeline,” he said.

The actor, however, said that while the exact dates of the film’s shoot is yet to be finalised, the plan is to begin the principal photography by mid 2023. “By the first half of 2023, we will arrive at a decision on where we will be shooting the movie. Right now, three teams are doing recce in three separate locations. Once we finalise that, we can arrive at a timeline on where we can shoot. After the recce is complete, I will have to go to see the locations and only after that we can decide when the film will go on floors,” said Prithviraj, adding that he hopes to begin Empuraan’s Kerala portions in the mid of 2023.

Prithviraj, meanwhile, will next be shooting for two Bollywood films including Bade Miyan Chotte Miyan with Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff. He also has Salaar, for which he will be shooting a schedule in Hyderabad before heading to 10 days shoot in Italy with Prabhas.

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In Malayalam, he is expected to begin work on Karachi ‘81 and Kaaliyan – both of which will be shot over the course of 2023 and 2024.