Exclusive! Babu Antony’s Power Star shelved? Omar Lulu reveals status of the action-entertainer

During the lockdown, director Omar Lulu had been busy with his ambitious action-entertainer Power Star, which was billed as the comeback of Babu Antony to a genre that propelled him to stardom in the ‘90s. The filmmaker had also announced a host of Hollywood actors that would have been part of the film, including Louis Mandylor and Robert Parham.

While the Hollywood actors dropped out after the pandemic, the filmmaker still decided to go ahead with the project and had even shot a teaser introducing Babu Antony’s character Khalid from the film, which was written by Dennis Joseph. The teaser also announced that the makers were planning a Christmas 2022 release.

However, the film seems to have run into trouble again. In an exclusive chat with OTTPlay, Omar reveals the current status of Power Star, which also had Abu Salim, Baburaj and Riyaz Khan in pivotal roles.

“We had completed the pre-production of the film but there was a problem when we started the filming. We need a budget of Rs 5 crore for the movie but the producers weren’t willing to shell that on a Babu Antony-starrer. An action movie won’t look great if it’s put together in a budget of just Rs 3 crore. So, it’s currently on hold,” says the director, who is gearing up for his next release Nalla Samayam, which is a “fun stoner film” with Irshad and a bunch of newcomers.

Meanwhile, Babu Antony, who was last seen in Ponniyin Selvan: I, recently joined the shoot of debutant director Sudheesh Gopinath’s Madanolsavam, which is written by Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval. The movie, which has Suraj Venjaramoodu in the lead, also has Rajesh Madhavan, Sudhi Koppa and Bhama Arun as part of its cast.

Babu Antony also has the Malayalam action-thriller The Great Escape, which has him teaming up with his son Arthur. The movie is directed by Sandeep JL and is filmed extensively in the US.