Actor Rajkiran is making his Malayalam debut with Shylock, co-starring Mammootty and Meena. The film, directed by Ajai Vasudev, will begin shoot on August 7 and is likely to release in both in Tamil and Malayalam.
The title and first-look of the film were recently released at a grand event attended by the film’s team in Kochi. Actor Mammootty said at the launch that the film actual protagonist is Rajkiran, who is a Tamil-speaking character, and Meena stars in the lead as his lover. “Rajkiran plays a strong and powerful character… Considering that Rajkiran selects his films with care, I’m happy he agreed to do this film,” he said.
About his character, Mammootty said, “I play a rich miser, but my name is not Shylock. The title was chosen to keep it stylish.” It is inspired by the character from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, and comes with the tagline ‘The Money Lender’.
#Shylock will be the title of @mammukka 's new film with the tag line – The Money Lender.
It will be all-out mass entertainer directed by #AjaiVasudev after #masterpiece.
Noted Tamil actor #Rajkiran is making his Malayalam debut. pic.twitter.com/WSVCdcJhRa— Box Office Analyst (@BOanalystteam) July 16, 2019
This is Mammootty’s third film with director Ajai Vasudev after Rajadhi Raja (2014) and Masterpiece (2017). It is written by Bibin Mohan and Aneesh Hameed, and has Gopi Sundar as the music composer, lyrics by Harinarayanan, and cinematography by Renadive, who worked on the Dulquer Salmaan-starrer CIA recently.
Joby George of Goodwill Entertainments is producing the film. This is their third project with Mammootty after Kasaba and Abrahaminte Santhathikal.
Rajkiran and Meena starred as a couple 28 years ago in En Raasavin Manassile. The film marked her transition from Baby Meena to Meena. The actress has worked across south Indian languages, and her last outing in Malayalam was with Mohanlal in Munthirivallikal Thalirkumbol (2017). Rajkiran acted in the lead as Durai Ayya in Vishal-starrer Sandakozhi 2 in 2018, and starred in Pa Paandi directed by Dhanush before this.
Mammootty, whose film Unda opened to a successful run in theatres recently, currently has Ganagandharvan by director Ramesh Pisharody and Mamangam by Padmakumar under production.
