Exclusive! Vivek Oberoi to play an anti-hero in Prithviraj and Shaji Kailas’ Kaduva: Jinu Abraham

After a stellar debut in Malayalam with Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Lucifer, Vivek Oberoi will once again collaborate with the actor in Shaji Kailas’ ‘mass’ action-entertainer Kaduva. The Bollywood star had joined the film’s sets a week ago, and now OTTplay has exclusively learnt about the character he is playing in the movie.

The film’s scriptwriter Jinu Abraham tells us, “Kaduva doesn’t have heroes or villains per se. Vivek’s character is more of an anti-hero. He plays a Malayali cop in the film. His is a powerful character who forms the core of the movie and it required an actor of Vivek’s stature to play the role.”

Prod him on the actor’s reaction when he was approached for the role and Jinu explains, “Once he heard the story, he was excited. The role is entirely different from what he played in Lucifer, and he said he had been waiting for something interesting to come from Malayalam. So, when this role was offered, he was keen to take it up.”

The team has now temporarily halted the movie’s shoot for a few days for the rains in Kerala to subside. The main locations of the film, which is helmed by Shaji Kailas, include Mundakayam, Kottayam, Ernakulam and Thiruvananthapuram.

The film, set in the ‘90s, has Prithviraj playing a Mundakayam-based rubber planter named Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan. Apart from the duo, Kaduva also has Arjun Ashokan, Samyuktha Menon, yesteryear actress Seema, Alencier Ley, Baiju Santosh, Innocent, Rahul Madhav, Janardhanan and Priyanka as part of the cast.

While Prithviraj’s films this year have all dropped directly on OTTs, Kaduva will release in cinema halls, Jinu confirms. “We are looking at an Eid 2022 release. Kaduva is a movie that is designed specifically for theatres. That was the idea right from its conception two years ago. It’s made on a huge canvas involving massive crowds just like the mass action-entertainers in the ‘90s,” he concludes.

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