Lokah Chapter 1: How Kalyani Priyadarshan’s mother Lissy Lakshmi played a part in her getting the role of Chandra

Ever since the stupendous success of their Onam film Lokah Chapter 1 Chandra, director Dominic Arun, actor-writer Santhy B, lead actor Kalyani Priyadarshan and, occasionally, Dulquer Salmaan, who produced it, have been on press tours, waxing eloquent about what they brought to the screen, fan theories and more. Dominic has often been asked about the casting process of Lokah Chapter 1, given that audiences are convinced that Dulquer just assembled all his friends to be a part of the film.

How is it that they zeroed in on Kalyani as Chandra? She is, after all, not the most athletic and doesn’t have the physicality one would expect from someone to pull off such an action-packed role. For Dominic and Santhy, though, the reasoning was different; they knew that Kalyani could do a fair bit of action, as seen in her film Anthony, but beyond that there was something about the actress that they thought was just apt.

Lissy Lakshmi's connection to Kalyani getting the role as Chandra

Speaking on the Just Too Filmy podcast, Dominic and Santhy shared that they had a list of options for the role and that Kalyani was at the top of it. “Also, the figure of the yakshi, has a lot of fragility associated with it. It’s supposed to be a helpless woman, who’s alone at night, but then has a monstrous side to her and that is the part that we reimagined; somebody who uses her powers for good. We had to find an actor who brought vulnerability plus strength,” explained Santhy, about how they’d imagined Neeli/Chandra.

Also read: Lokah Chapter 1- Chandra: Who is the infamous Kalliyankattu Neeli played by Kalyani Priyadarshan? 

Then, when Kalyani’s name came up, the image that came to Santhy’s mind was of the former’s mother, actress Lissy Lakshmi, in a scene from Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, where she is a victim and wearing a white sari in a pool of blood. “That is the image that struck and I thought I could see Kalyani playing the role,” she added. Interestingly, an O-ve blood stain on the sari in Oru CBI Diary Kurippu is what leads the investigators to the murderer. It is also the blood group that Chandra prefers. 

Meanwhile, the film, which has been in theatres for close to three weeks, is on the verge of eclipsing several collection records, including that Mohanlal’s L2 Empuraan, to emerge as the highest grossing Malayalam film. It is tantalisingly close to the figure and expected to get there by the next weekend or earlier.

There are, however, reports that Lokah may also be OTT bound while there’s still a good buzz around it. According to multiple reports, Netflix has acquired the rights and the film could be on the platform by the end of September. The team and the streamer are yet to confirm this though.

FAQs

Q. Who is the superhero of Kalyani Priyadarshan?

A. Kalyani Priyadarshan plays a superhero character named Chandra in the movie Lokah.

Q. Who is the producer of Lokah Chapter 1?

A. South star Dulquer Salmaan is the producer of Lokah Chapter 1.

Q. How is Kalyani Priyadarshan related to Mohanlal?

Kalyani Priyadarshan and Mohanlal are not related. Superstar Mohanlal and Kalyani’s father director Priyadarshan are friends and have collaborated on several hit films.