Pazhassi Raja (film)

Infobox Film
name = Pazhassi Raja


caption = An on-location still featuring
Mammootty as Pazhassi Raja| director = Hariharan
producer = Gokulam Gopalan
writer = M. T. Vasudevan Nair
starring = Mammotty
Sarath Kumar
Padmapriya
Kanika Subramaniam
Manoj K. Jayan
Thilakan
Jagathi Sreekumar
Suresh Krishna
Suman
music = Illayaraja
cinematography = Venu Nair
editing =
production_company =
distributor =
released =
runtime =
country = India
awards =
language = Malayalam
budget = 28 crores.
gross =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0887769

Pazhassi Raja is a forthcoming biopic magnum opus historical film directed by Hariharan, and the screenplay is written by M.T. Vasudevan Nair. It stars Mammotty, Manoj K. Jayan, Thilakan, Padmapriya and Sarath Kumar in the lead roles with Kanika Subramaniam, Peter Handley Evans, Harry Key, and Jagathi Sreekumar in other pivotal roles. The film's score and soundtrack is written by acclaimed composer Illayaraja.

Development

It was 18 years back that Hariharan, M. T. Vasudevan Nair and Mammotty joined hands to create "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" which was a challenging film according to Hariharan, but he expects this movie to be more challenging since it is being made with an international cast.cite web| title=" Tribute to Pazhassi Raja"| work= [http://www.hinduonnet.com The Hindu] |url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2007011900780100.htm&date=2007/01/19/&prd=fr&|accessdate=2 May|accessyear=2007] Initially they had planned to make a movie on Payyamveli Chanthu, then on Thalakkal Chanthu and finally decided on Pazhassi Raja.cite web| title=" Tribute to Pazhassi Raja"| work= [http://www.indiaglitz.com Indiaglitz] |url=http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/article/30898.html|accessdate=2 May|accessyear=2007] M. T. Vasudevan Nair who is known for reinterpreting history, making villains heroes and heroes villains, he will be doing the same this time also.

Casting

Mammotty who played the hero in Hariharan's previous historical, "Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha" plays the title role in this movie. Mammotty normally acts in one movie at a time, but during the filming of this movie, he will also be shuttling between the sets of other Malayalam films like "Vande Mataram", "Mission 90 Days", and "Katha parayumbol".cite web| title="Mammootty changing his styles"| work= [http://www.indiaglitz.com Indiaglitz] |url=http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/article/30859.html|accessdate=2 May|accessyear=2007]

There are three heroines with Padma Priya appearing as an Adivasi girl, Kanihaa as his wife and Linda Arsenio as an English woman.cite web| title="Three heroines for Pazhassi Raja"| work= [http://www.indiaglitz.com Indiaglitz] |url=http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/article/30898.html|accessdate=2 May|accessyear=2007] Linda Arsenio who has done theatre in New York, was seen in "Kabul Express".cite web| title="American actress in Malayalam movie"| work= [http://www.apunkachoice.com/ Apun Ka Choice] |url=http://www.apunkachoice.com/scoop/downsouth/malayalam/20070407-0.html|accessdate=2 May|accessyear=2007]

Kanika who plays the role of Kaitheri Makkom started getting movie offers when she was student at BITS Pilani, but she waited till she completed the course work. It was not easy getting the part since she had to convince Hariharan that she could portray the role effectively. To convince Hariharan she showed him her role in the Tamil film, "", in which she was dressed up as a queen in a song sequence. A week later she was offered the role.cite web| title=" Queenly role"| work= [http://www.thehindu.com The Hindu] |url=http://www.thehindu.com/fr/2008/01/25/stories/2008012550170300.htm|accessdate=23 Jan|accessyear=2008]

Suman who played the villain in "", signed on to play the villain, Pazhaiveetan Chanducite web| title="Suman in Malayalam"| work= [http://sify.com/movies/malayalam Sify Malayalam] |url=http://sify.com/movies/malayalam/fullstory.php?id=14586773|accessdate=24 Jan|accessyear=2008] and Sarath Kumar, who will make his debut in Malayalam cinema after many years in Kollywood, will play Edachena Kunkan, the chief lieutenant to ‘Pazhassi Raja’.cite web| title="Sarath Kumar speaks Malayalam"| work= [http://indiaglitz.com IndiaGlitz] |url=http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/malayalam/article/36619.html|accessdate=17 Feb|accessyear=2008]

Post Production

The movie was dubbed at AVM studios.Associate Directors of this film are Babu Pisharoti and Unni Narayanan. Hareesh Kottoor, Babu Namboothiri, Baby Panikkar, Anand Kishore, Sarjulan,Sajir are working in this historic film as Assistant Directors.

Technical Details

This will be the second Malayalam movie to be filmed in Panavision, the first one being "Vanaprastham".

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0887769|title=Pazhassi Raja
* [http://www.bharathtalk.com/forums/movies/pazhassi-raja-gallery.html Pazhassi Raja Movie Gallery]
*The Hindu - [http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/2007/01/19/stories/2007011900780100.htm Feature]
* Who was Pazhassi Raja [http://varnachitram.com/2007/06/01/who-was-pazhassi-raja/ Feature]