Kiccha Sudeep Joins Mohanlal’s Marikkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham

Kannada superstar Kiccha Sudeep has become cast in Priyadarshan’s upcoming movie Marikkar Arabikkadalinte Simham, which stars Mohanlal in the titular role. Sudeep is best known to the Malayali audience through Eecha – the Malayalam dubbed version of the Telugu movie Eega.

Marikkar would mark Sudeep’s full-fledged Malayalam acting debut. Sudeep is joined by Bollywood actor Suneil Shetty and Tamil actor Arjun Sarja who have prominent parts in the movie. Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh and Kalyani Priyadarshan play the female leads in the movie. Pranav Mohanlal is also reported to be making a cameo appearance in the movie.

The movie is based on the life of Kunjali Marikkar IV – the fourth and last of the naval chiefs who was deployed to defend the seas against Portuguese, by the Samoothiri of Calicut. The movie which was announced a little after April last year went on floors in December. The movie will be shot in Ramoji Film City – Hyderabad, Ooty and Rameshwaram.

Sabu Cyril is the art-director and Thirru is the cinematographer for the movie. Production is by Antony Perumbavoor under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas. Santhosh.T.Kuruvilla and C.J.Roy will be co-producers of the movie.

A photo rumoured to be from the sets of Marikkar has been doing the rounds on social media. It shows Sudeep along with director Priyadarshan.

The actor is also rumoured to be playing the villain in Salman Khan’s Dabangg 3. According to India Today, a source said “Sudeep and Salman have been planning to team up on a film since a long time and things have finally fallen in place. The two will engage in Tom and Jerry kind of skirmishes in Dabangg 3. Sudeep’s character has shades of grey.”

Sudeep plays the protagonist in Pailwaan – a remake of Salman Khan’s Sultan. Salman Khan had put up a tweet congratulating the actor after the release of the teaser.