Mohanlal as wrestler, Prithviraj Sukumaran as his disciple? Maniyanpilla Raju spills the beans on Anwar Rasheed film

Amid expectations being sky high for Mohanlal’s upcoming movie with Lijo Jose Pellissery that will see the Malayalam superstar essay the role of a wrestler, producer-actor Maniyanpilla Raju recently revealed another project that was to have the veteran star in a similar role and his Bro Daddy co-star Prithviraj Sukumaran as the co-lead.

Before fans get their hopes up, the film is not a new one and was supposed to go on floors after Chotta Mumbai in 2007. In fact, it would have marked the first-ever collaboration between Mohanlal and Prithviraj. Maniyanpilla, in a recent interview, revealed that he was approached by director Anwar Rasheed soon after Chotta Mumbai with a script by Sachy and Sethu duo.

The producer, who had by then also produced Prithviraj’s Anandhabhadram, said that Sachy and Sethu had pitched several scripts to Anwar but he didn’t like any of them till they locked one that had Mohanlal as a wrestler based in Hyderabad and Prithviraj as a youngster, who travels from Kerala to train under the superstar’s character.

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However, some of the scenes required a huge budget, which Maniyanpilla Raju said was beyond him as a producer. “There were scenes with a few helicopters and as soon as I heard that, I looked at Mohanlal and tried to express that it wouldn’t work out,” said the producer. Mohanlal then told Anwar that it had a lot of clichés and that’s why the team dropped the plan, said Maniyanpilla Raju.

The producer, however, also said that he had paid both Sachy and Sethu advances for the scripts and that led to him producing the latter’s upcoming movie Maheshum Marutiyum, which is directed by Sethu and has Mamta Mohandas and Asif Ali in the lead. The film, which is set to hit theatres on February 24, is a romcom that revolves around its two protagonists and a Maruti 800.

Meanwhile, Mohanlal and Prithviraj will be working together later this year on Empuraan.