Lalitham Sundaram, the upcoming Biju Menon and Manju Warrier-starrer, is a feel-good family drama, the film’s writer Pramod Mohan tells Silverscreen India.
On Monday, the makers released the trailer of the Malayalam film and announced that it will release on Disney+ Hotstar on March 18.
Produced by Manju Warrier Productions and Century Films, Lalitham Sundaram is directed by Madhu Wariar. The film also features actors Saiju Kurup, Deepti Sati, Anu Mohan, Zarina Wahab and Raghunath Paleri.
In a conversation with Silverscreen India, the film’s writer Pramod says, “It is a feel-good film that revolves around family dynamics, like the relationships between siblings, husband and wife, and much more. The story is about a family that visits their ancestral house. The title Lalitham Sundaram translates to ‘Simple and Beautiful’ and that’s exactly the essence of the film.”
Pramod tells us that he and Madhu had worked as assistant directors on a film called Crazy Gopalan in 2008. Later, when Madhu came up with an idea for this story and discussed it with one of his friends, filmmaker Jude Anthany Joseph, the latter had suggested that Pramod would be the apt person to work with on the family drama.
“In 2018, Madhu pitched the idea to me. I could relate well to it and I developed it into a story. Madhu liked it and we began working on it together after I finished my first directorial, Orayiram Kinakkal. We wrote several drafts following discussions with friends and family,” Pramod says.
The writer also mentions that they had Biju Menon in mind during the writing process.
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They pitched it to Manju Warrier later, and she was also excited about the theme and agreed to be part of the project. “We initially had other producers in mind for the project but they could not come on board. We were pleasantly surprised when Manju asked if she could back it after listening to the final draft of the script. We are glad that we have two big banners backing our film,” Pramod says.
Lalitham Sundaram went on floors in December 2019 and most of the filming was completed before Covid-19. The primary location was Vandiperiyar hill station. The film has been shot by P Sukumar and Gautham Sankar. The technical crew also includes editor Lijo Paul and music composer Bijibal.
“We originally planned for a theatrical release, but due to the ongoing pandemic situation, we decided to opt for an OTT premiere. This will also ensure the film has more reach, with family audiences able to watch it from the comfort of their homes,” says Pramod.