When lorry drivers delivered scenes: How Mohanlal-Priyadarshan's 1988 hit film was shot in 20 days
Mohanlal's Vellanakalude Nadu was shot without a full script in hand, with scenes delivered daily by even lorry drivers and other actors en route to their shoot, Maniyanpilla Raju recounted.
Last Updated: 12.22 PM, Mar 22, 2026
Malayalam stalwarts Mohanlal and Priyadarshan have reunited for the hit filmmaker’s 100th film, much to the delight of fans. The superstar-director duo have delivered several hit films from the 1980s, including Vellanakalude Nadu, penned by the legendary actor-screenwriter Sreenivasan. But did you know that Vellanakalude Nadu was shot without a full script in hand, with scenes delivered daily by even lorry drivers and other actors en route to their shoot? In a recent interview with Ginger Media, actor-producer Maniyanpilla Raju narrated how the hit film was made in just 20 days, even when the whole process of just getting the script took longer.
How Mohanlal-Priyadarshan’s Vellanakalude Nadu was made
Vellanakalude Nadu is a 1988 Malayalam movie, which starred Mohanlal as a struggling contractor, CP Nair. The film’s producer Maniyanpilla Raju recently narrated how he took Sreenivasan to the Maldives to pen the story. However, Sreenivasan did not find the place suitable for writing and returned to Kerala. But even then, the film took time to happen with the writer-director seeking more time just days before the shoot was scheduled to start and Sreenivasan later getting injured in an accident.
Sreenivasan informed Raju the next day that he had to shoot for another movie by filmmaker Sathyan Anthikad, but he assured Raju that he would finish the script. "Sreenivasan would call in the night and narrate the scenes over the phone. Then on some days, lorry drivers would turn up at my hotel and inform that Sreenivasan sir has sent a cover. Then another day, KPAC Lalitha arrived en route to her shooting and said Sreenivasan asked to hand over a scene. The filming was wrapped up in 20 days.
"It was released along with Chithram (another Mohanlal-Priyadarshan film) and still ran for 100 days - that's Vellanakalude Nadu," Maniyanpilla Raju concluded. The senior actor recounted the tale during a promotional interview for his upcoming movie Prathichaya, starring Nivin Pauly
Sreenivasan too acted in the movie, which continues to be popular among cinephiles. Maniyanpilla Raju also played the contractor’s friend and assistant in the movie.
Film shooting getting underway with scripts being written on the spot was quite common in Malayalam cinema those days, but these still turned out to be masterpieces, as was seen in the case of Mohanlal’s Bharatham.