Mohanlal, who will next be seen in the Prithviraj Sukumaran directorial L2: Empuraan, has shared his two cents on Malayalam cinema going through a financial crisis in an interview with NDTV.
When asked about the poor box office record of Malayalam movies released in the recent past, the film veteran had the perfect reply.
He said, “There are no written rules that every film should be a hit. I am not ridiculing anyone. Someone makes a film for 2 crores and if it is collecting 35 lakhs, then what can we do? See, we spend a lot of money on films. This is filmmaking. So people should understand whether to start a film or if they have to sit and work on their budget, how they will recapture the money – This is a process. So, the film industry will not always be profitable. It is a vicious circle.”
Mohanlal added, “People have so many choices. They can watch TV and OTT. It is not necessary to go and watch a film at a theatre. We should attract people to the theatre. That is your brilliance, that is your intelligence.”
This year, 17 films were released in February, including Daveed, Get Set Baby, Officer on Duty and Dominic and the Ladies’ Purse, to name a few. Out of them, only Officer on Duty, featuring Kunchacko Boban and Priyamani, was able to strike the right chord with the masses.
Coming to Mohanlal’s L2: Empuraan, the movie is the sequel to the 2019 action-thriller Lucifer. The makers dropped the film’s trailer on March 20. Mohanlal plays the role of Stephen Nedumpally aka Khureshi Ab’raam. Meanwhile, Prithviraj Sukumaran essays the character of Zayed Masood. Sachin Khedekar, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, Manju Warrier and Game of Thrones fame Jerome Flynn are a part of the cast as well.
L2: Empuraan is produced by Subaskaran, Gokulam Gopalan and Antony Perumbavoor under the banner of Lyca Productions, Sree Gokulam Movies and Aashirvad Cinemas. The action-thriller is set to premiere in the theatres on March 27.
