Sathyaraj signs his first Malayalam movie in 7 years, joins Asif Ali and Divya Dutta in Resul Pookutty’s Otta

Baahubali actor Sathyaraj has signed his first Malayalam film since the success of Baahubali in 2015 with Oscar-winner Resul Pookutty’s directorial debut Otta. The upcoming movie, which has Asif Ali in the lead, will mark Sathyaraj comeback in Malayalam after the Mohanlal-starrer Lailaa O Lailaa.

Sathyaraj joins the already star-studded cast of Otta, which also has Arjun Ashokan, Shobana, Rohini, Indrans and Adil Hussain. The film also marks the Malayalam comeback of Bollywood actress Divya Dutta, who will next be seen in Kangana Ranaut and Arjun Rampal’s Dhaakad.

Otta is based on the real-life experiences of Mumbai-based social worker and author S Hariharan, who runs an NGO that helps rescue and reunite runaway children with their families. The script and story of the movie has several true incidents that has happened in Hariharan’s life over the years. Hariharan’s Children Reunited LLP is also co-producing Otta with Resul Pookutty productions.

The upcoming film also has Resul’s brother Baiju Pookutty and yesteryear actress Jalaja’s daughter Devi in pivotal roles. Several leading technicians including composer M Jayachandran, cinematographer Arun Varma and production designer Sunil Babu. The film is set to go on floors on April 25.

The team had officially announced the project at a function held in Kochi on April 13. Actor Babu Antony, who had also attended the event, had shared a photo with Sathyaraj and talked about their reunion after several. The duo were supposed to share screen space in Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan, before Sathyaraj had dropped out of the film.

Meanwhile, Sathyaraj was most recently seen in Prabhas’ Radhe Shyam and Suriya’s Etharkkum Thunindhavan. The movies are currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, respectively. The veteran star is also shooting for the Telugu movie titled Pakka Commercial, which has Gopichand and Raashi Khanna in the lead, and the Tamil movie Soodhu Kavvum.

Also read: Resul Pookutty's directorial debut Otta, starring Asif Ali, is based on life of social worker S Hariharan