Split in Barroz team? Jijo says Mohanlal rewrote script akin to Lucifer, Pulimurugan to ‘satisfy his fan base’

One of the highlights of Mohanlal’s directorial debut Barroz: Guardian of D’Gama’s Treasure was that it also marked the return of the visionary My Dear Kuttichathan filmmaker Jijo Punnoose. The entire film was conceived by Jijo, who was also its scriptwriter. However, the pandemic and its subsequent lockdowns seems to have changed all that.

In a lengthy blog post on his website, Jijo detailed the evolution of the project. The filmmaker wrote that once Mohanlal had decided to direct the 3D children’s fantasy and Antony Perumbavoor agreed to produce the movie, he had re-written the script 22 times “to polish the script” to their liking and yet “standing firm on the fact that it was the girl who is the central character” and not Barroz. Mohanlal too had agreed to this.

The movie went on floors in April 2021 with a star-studded launch that also saw Malayalam cinema’s who’s who including Mammootty and Prithviraj Sukumaran attending the function. However, a week into the shoot, several cast and crew began falling sick and the second lockdown was announced in Kerala.

Also read: Mohanlal’s Barroz trailer to be released along with James Cameron’s Avatar 2 in theatres? 

Once the lockdown was over, the team had enquired about when the movie was to resume shoot but by then the producers were busy with their OTT endeavours such as Bro Daddy, 12th Man, Alone and Monster. Jijo also wrote that there were plans to shelve the project with Antony asking the team to dismantle the sets at Navodaya Studio.

This is where Mohanlal stepped in, according to Jijo, and revived the project after he had completed his OTT commitments. But it also came with its challenges as it wasn’t possible to get the previous artistes back in such a short span of time. Antony had reportedly informed the team that there was only a 4-month window before Mohanlal’s dates would be allotted to other projects.

The filmmaker wrote that this is when Mohanlal “took the initiative along with (TK) Rajeevkumar” to rewrite the script “for viable completion of the film in and around Kochi itself”. “Personally, I feel it was a prudent move to save the project,” wrote Jijo, adding that in the process of re-writing Barroz, also fashioned its screenplay and character “much like his recent hits – Odiyan, Pulimurugan, Lucifer and Marakkar, so as to satisfy his fan base”.

Jijo hinted that there was no bad blood among the team as he stated that he understood why Mohanlal had done it based on his experience. “… the focus of the film was to entertain the Malayalee family film audience,” he wrote.

This also led to Jijo stepping down and Rajeevkumar taking over the role of assisting Mohanlal in the movie. Jijo, however, did join the team in the last week of shoot in April 2022 to help the team complete the “rotating-set scene where Ghost Barroz walks the walls of the Treasure Cellar”.

The filmmaker concluded his post by saying that since the initial plan is still unutilized, he and his team will be going ahead with making the original fantasy film in English and Hispanic on the Kappiri Ghost, who guards D’Gama’s Treasure.