Manju Warrier’s Vellarikkapattanam is a family entertainer: Mahesh Vettiyaar

Manju Warrier and Soubin Shahir, who had earlier teamed up for Jack & Jill, are set to collaborate again in director Mahesh Vettiyaar’s upcoming movie titled Vellarikkapattanam. The team announced the movie with a fun first-look poster showing Manju’s character leaping with a sword like one of the warriors from the Kerala folktales while Soubin shields himself from her attack.
On the movie, Mahesh, who had co-directed the animation film Swami Ayyappan in 2012, tells us, “It’s a family entertainer laced with humour; it’s got a rooted story and is also a social satire set in the contemporary era. The poster is very much in sync with the central theme of the movie.”
Ask him if the film took shape during the lockdown and Mahesh, who has co-scripted the movie with journalist Sarath Krishna, says, “It’s not a lockdown movie. We had planned the film earlier this year. Both Manju and Soubin were supposed to join our film as soon as they finished shooting for Lalitham Sundaram and Djinn, respectively. But because of the lockdown, it got delayed. So, as soon as the restrictions are lifted and they complete the remaining portions of their movies, we should be able to go on floors within a month.”
The team has zeroed in on locations in and around Alappuzha for the movie. “The nativity of the place lends itself to the story; however, the plot doesn’t evolve against a totally rural backdrop,” says Mahesh, who had started out as a cartoonist and had lately worked in advertisements including ones featuring MS Dhoni.
With Vellarikkapattanam being a family-oriented film, does Manju and Soubin play a couple? “They don’t play a husband and wife in the film. I think it’s too early to reveal anything more about their characters,” he concludes.