Mammootty to contest panchayat elections with a torch as symbol? Here’s the truth behind the viral flex boards

The residents of Teekoy were in for a surprise the past week when they were informed about several election flex boards featuring Mammootty’s photo and captions that announced he would be contesting the local panchayat elections as an independent candidate from the Left front. The photos of the boards soon found their way online too on Tuesday.

While many immediately jumped to the conclusion that the actor is finally taking the plunge to politics, a closer look revealed that the flex board was in fact installed as part of his latest film, Kaathal: The Core that is directed by The Great Indian Kitchen director Jeo Baby.

The poster revealed that Mammootty’s character in the film is named Mathew Devassia and in the family drama, he would be contesting the panchayat elections in the Ward no. 3 at Teekoy gram panchayat. The team is gearing up to shoot the election portions on Wednesday in Kochi, where shoot has been progressing the past few weeks.

Kaathal, which is also produced by Mammootty Kampany, marks the comeback of Jyothika to Malayalam film industry after a gap of 12 years. The actress had joined the sets two weeks ago and has been shooting for the film, which is expected to hit theatres only next year.

Jeo had revealed that it was Mammootty himself who had suggested approaching Jyothika for the film. The actress agreed to come on board and her husband Suriya also took to Twitter a few weeks ago, to laud the team about how they have gone about the project from the very first day itself.

Mammootty, meanwhile, has two big films lined up including Deeno Dennis’ ‘mass’ thriller as well as cinematographer Roby Varghese’s director debut, which will have the megastar play a cop again. His upcoming releases include Lijo Jose Pellissery’s Nanpakal Nerathu Mayakkam, B Unnikrishnan’s Christopher and the Telugu action-thriller Agent, which has Akhil Akkineni in the lead.