Vijay Babu on Mohanlal’s Malaikottai Vaaliban: ‘It’s an intense mass film’

Actor-producer Vijay Babu is busy giving interviews, since the release of Valatty: The Tale of Tails. His banner Friday Film House is one of the most talked-about production houses in the south, known for its content-driven projects. Now in a recent interview, Vijay revealed his take on the upcoming Lijo Jose Pellissery-Mohanlal action film Malaikottai Vaaliban. He calls it an “out-and-out mass film”.

Echoing the views of Tinu Paapachan, who worked as the chief associate director for Malaikottai Vaaliban, Vijay said that theatres will “tremble at the introduction of Mohanlal”. “I have known Mohanlal and Lijo for a long time and have done films with them too. Lijo has been talking about doing a mass film for many years. Double Barrel was one such film. Since the release of that film, he has often spoken about doing another mass film,” he told Silly Monks Mollywood.

While talking about the growth of Friday Film House and the hard decisions the company had to take in recent years, Vijay said, “I had planned to produce Traffic, but later Listin Stephen took that forward. Vipin Das had approached me for producing Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, but at that time I was focussing on Theerppu and Valatty. Later Vipin took it to Basil Joseph. I think Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey worked because of that combination of actor and director. A lot of films - like Ohm Shanthi Oshaana, which I had plans to produce didn’t work out. Initially, Kathanar - The Wild Sorcerer was also planned under our banner, but later I had to let go of that because of Aadu 3.”

Vijay Babu has produced films like Aadu, Aadu 2, Angamaly Diaries, Philips and the Monkey Pen and Home. He also distributed Jallikattu, a widely acclaimed film. Vijay joined hands with Mohanlal for Peruchazhi, a political satire.

Valatty is the latest film of the production house. It’s an experimental project, featuring real dogs as the lead characters. Earlier, Vijay had said that the film took three years to materialise, with more than one year for pre-production work.