Kaanekkaane, the upcoming Malayalam film starring Tovino Thomas, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Shruti Ramachandran in the lead roles, is a family drama, director Manu Ashokan told Silverscreen India.
“It is primarily set in the drama genre, but also has some layers of engaging emotional and thriller elements. Tovino plays the head of a marketing firm and his character has an emotional journey. Aishwarya essays a homemaker and Suraj plays the role of a Deputy Tahsildar,” the filmmaker added.
The film also features actors Prem Prakash, Rony David and Binu Pappu.
Bobby and Sanjay, the popular Malayalam screenwriter duo, have written Kaanekkaane. The film is produced by TR Shamsudheen under the DreamKatcher banner.
Kaanekkaane marks director Manu’s second collaboration with writers Bobby and Sanjay as well as actor Tovino after Uyare, the 2019 drama film that follows an aviation student (played by Parvathy Thiruvothu) who survives an acid attack.
“I enjoy working with the writer duo. We have fun-filled conversations and discuss topics like society and politics,” Manu said. The filmmaker revealed that the team had plans to work on a different script earlier. However, that was a big canvas project and had to be put on hold as it could not be filmed during the prevailing pandemic conditions.
“That’s when this [Kaanekkaane] came on the table. Earlier, we had discussed this idea but it was in a different shape then. We got back to the idea and reworked it in such a way that it could be shot during these Covid-19 times.”
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Kaanekkaane went on floors in November 2020 and was shot for around 33 days in the outskirts of Kochi. “Though we shot the film amidst the pandemic, the story is not set in the Covid-19 context. The filming was not confined to a single location either. We have a mix of both indoor and outdoor scenes,” Manu added.
On August 28, Tovino took to his social media handle to share that the team had watched the film’s preview. He wrote, “All smiles after the preview! Kaanekkaane has become all the more promising to us, after a highly satisfying preview show yesterday. And now we are waiting eagerly for this wonderful movie to reach you… Hoping that will be soon. Cheers!”
Manu said that the film’s post-production work, including the final sound mixing, has been completed recently.
The film’s release date has not been announced yet.