Actress Manju Warrier will play the lead in the second directorial of actor-director Sajid Yahiya, whose debut film IDI, starring Jayasurya, was released three weeks ago. According to a Times Of India report, the film will revolve around a woman who is ‘deeply influenced by actor Mohanlal’s onscreen persona’. The film, has therefore, been titled Mohanlal.
Actor Indrajith, who was Manju’s co-star in Rajesh Pillai’s Vettah, will play the male lead in the film. According to the TOI report, the film will explore what Mohanlal means to the women of Kerala.
Meanwhile, the film has already got mired in a controversy. Writer-director Kalavoor Ravikumar has alleged that the film’s story is plagiarised from one of his short stories, Mohanlaline Enikkippol Pediyaanu. “My story was published in a prominent Malayalam publication when the scriptwriter Suneesh Vaaranadu was working there. Anybody can take such a recorded story and tweak it for a screen version, claiming it to be another unique story. Therefore, there is an ethical issue here”, the writer was quoted by TOI as saying, He has, reportedly, filed a complaint about it with the FEFKA writers union.
Sajid Yahiya, however, told Mathrubhumi that he was yet to announce the project officially. He said that neither he nor his screenwriter had read Kalavoor’s story. He added that though he had requested Kalavoor to read his script to cross-check the facts, the writer refused to do so.
Sajid’s film, reportedly, is about a girl who was born the day Mohanlal made his career debut through Fazil’s Manjil Virinja Pookkal in 1980. From then, the actor, virtually, becomes a part of her life. She considers him as her source of support. Kalavoor’s story too, is centred around a similar character.
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“It is a universal thought and we have had many films released like that, across industries over the years. For instance, Bollywood film Guddi, released in 1989, is about a girl smitten by Dharmendra while the Tamil film Cinema Paithyam is about someone who adores Kamal Haasan,” Sajid was quoted by TOI as saying.
Sajid’s first film, IDI aka Inspector Dawood Ibrahim, is a comedy-action about a police inspector named Dawood, played by Jayasurya. An actor who has played minor roles in a number of films like Bangalore Days and Double Barrel, Sajid also runs a popular movie promotion portal named Cinema Pranthan.
Feature Image Courtesy: Manorama Online