Why Baahubali will seem like a joke in front of Mohanlal's Mahabharata: Randamoozham
If Malayalam cinema enjoyed the reach Hollywood and Bollywood movies do, veteran actors like Mohanlal, Mammootty, Jagathi Sreekumar and Thilakan would have been hailed the finest actors to have ever walked on the planet.
Mohanlal and Mammootty, the two superstars of the Malayalam movie industry, still continue to reign as undisputed stars, raking in record box-office collections. Mohanlal's Pulimurugan, despite being a below-average film when it comes to the story and screenplay, managed to become the first Malayalam film to enter the Rs 100 crore club and collected more than Rs 150 crore at the box-office.
Mohanlal's star power threatened even Salman Khan's, for Pulimurugan continued to play at Mumbai theatres weeks after Khan's Sultan, which released around the same time, got off the screens.
I make these points to make a bigger point. Loud and clear.
The upcoming Rs 1,000-crore project with Mohanlal in the lead - Mahabharatam: Randamoozham - will effortlessly dwarf the Baahubali franchise. Baahubali was made at a massive budget of Rs 450 crore and managed to collect almost four times that. The movie, however, was flawed at many levels ranging from mediocre acting to shoddy CGI.
It wasn't Prabhas' acting prowess or the action sequences that made Baahubali a celebration of sorts but director SS Rajamouli's brilliance. He ensured his characters had a strong emotional connect with the audience and that at the end of the first instalment of the movie, just like Shivudu/ Mahendra Baahubali, everybody would want to know why Kattappa killed Amarendra Baahubali.
It clicked, great. But Baahubali's grandeur will be until Mahabharatam releases. Let me tell you why.
Mohanlal's stardom overshadows Prabhas' by leaps and bounds. The three-time National Award-winning actor has more than 300 movies to his credit and is someone who stands next only to Kamal Haasan when it comes to character acting.
For Mohanlal, who has played the role of Karna in a professional drama titled Karnabharam directed by veteran playwright Kavalam Narayana Panicker, playing Bheema on the big screen will be a cakewalk.
The superstar who can act using just his eyebrows will deliver a spectacular performance as Bheema - it will see Mohanlal's emergence as a global superstar.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is said to have sent a message to the producer of Mahabharatam, BR Shetty, expressing his support for the project and said he's awaiting the release of the movie that will be a matter of pride for the nation. For once, I agree with our PM. Mahabharatam will be what Indian cinema will be known for. It is the first-ever Indian movie that's being made on such a gargantuan budget.
Mohanlal, the friend
Mohanlal's tales of camaraderie are famous. He lives his life king size. Shah Rukh Khan once said, "If there's someone I'd like to chill with, that's Mohanlal Sir," and that's proof enough.
Lal, who is on good terms with superstars and young stars alike from Bollywood and all other south Indian states, can easily convince others to collaborate for this gigantic project.
Reports say that Telugu superstar Nagarjuna has already been approached by the Mahabharatam team to essay the role of Karna.
Ad filmmaker Shrikumar, who's helming the titanic project is someone who has worked with superstars from Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi cinema industries for ad films. These stars include Nagarjuna, Chiyaan Vikram, Punit Rajkumar, Akshay Kumar and Amitabh Bachchan to name a few.
It is safe to assume that he would have won the confidence of these stars before committing to make a movie at such a high budget. There were also reports that Telugu star Mahesh Babu or Bollywood Greek god Hrithik Roshan may be approached for the role of Lord Krishna.
If Baahubali could rake in the kind of numbers it did with a not-so-pricey star cast, imagine the buzz and hype Mahabharatam will create if it announces an ensemble cast - Mohanlal in the title role of Bheema, Nagarjuna as Karna, Amitabh Bachchan playing Bhishma, Prithviraj Sukumaran playing Arjun, Vikram as Yudhishtir, Kamaal Haasan playing Duryodhan and Hrithik Roshan as Krishna - and the kind of money the movie will make the very first day only on the basis of this star cast.
Baahubali's lifetime collection could be crushed the day Mahabharatam releases worldwide.
Randamoozham and Mt Vasudevan Nair
The other pillar of Mahabharatam is MT Vasudevan Nair, the celebrated literary legend and Jnanpith award-winner. Nair's Randamoozham (translated to English as Second Turn) - Mahabharata narrated from the perspective of Bheema - is a retelling of the Indian epic Mahabharata but one where the author humanises all the characters, stripping them off all their godly glory.
It is the heartbreaking story of second Pandava brother Bheema and the second-hand treatment he was subjected to throughout his life. The story closely deals with the kind of insults that were directed at him by almost all the characters in the epic. Despite being known for his elephantine strength, Bheema is one character who was always ridiculed and taken for granted. It would be a divine experience to see Mohanlal bring him to life.
Nair's epic work on the epic, from the perspective of Bheema, gives every character equal importance.
Announcing the project on a TV talk show, Mohanlal said: "MT Sir has finished the screenplay of the movie and he has handed it over to me." And the confidence he has in MT's brilliance was evident.
MT, a seven-time National Award winner, has received the award four times for Best Screenplay. He has also won more than 21 Kerala State Awards for Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Director.
I guess these stats are enough to expect a solid, foolproof story and screenplay.
Mohanlal and good scripts
Mohanlal has a knack to select the best scripts. Of course, he has been part of some horrible movies but he has hinted multiple times that he chose to work in them to help his friends.
There are many acclaimed writers in Malayalam cinema who write, keeping in mind that Mohanlal would play the protagonist because they feel that he alone can do justice to those characters.
Whatever the genre, be it action, rom-com, thriller, offbeat or plain mindless entertainers, Mohanlal nails it all.
Like I always say, not one day passes in the lives of Malayalis without talking about at least one instance from a Mohanlal movie or without repeating a dialogue he has said.
I can only hope that more stars, leaving behind their inflated egos and insecurities that they will be sidelined by Mohanlal's acting abilities, will collaborate for Mahabharatam, and make it the greatest work in cinema India has seen till date.