Mammootty has huge expectations from ‘Pazhassi Raja’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Veteran Malayalam superstar Mammootty says he is not only excited about his forthcoming historical epic “Pazhassi Raja”, but also has huge expectations from the movie that is dubbed in three languages.

“Of course, I’m really waiting for it because it is one Malayalam film which is likely to have a national release as it is dubbed in Hindi, Telegu and Tamil. Lot of hard work has gone into the film by each one associated with it,” Mammootty told IANS.

It’s a Ramadan month and despite being a devout Muslim, the veteran actor is busy moving from one set to another and running from one dubbing studio to another.

“Rain or sun, I have a job in hand and I do it with all my sincerity. Right now I’m driving towards Chennai to complete the dubbing of the Tamil version of ‘Pazhassi Raja’. Due to lack of time I’m not doing the Telegu and Hindi dubbing,” said Mammootty.

Scripted by M.T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Hariharan, the film is set in the 18th century and is about Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja of the Padinjare Kovilakom of the Kottayam family. Irked by the revenue policy of East India Company in Malabar, he threatened to cut down all the pepper vines if the British persisted in revenue collection. It is releasing in September.

In short, Pazhassi Raja’s was one of the first voices to be raised against British rule in India and he was one of the first freedom fighters, but not many people are aware of this outside Kerala.

After a gap of 20 years, Nair, Hariharan and Mammootty have come together for the film. The trio last time teamed up for “Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha” and created magic on celluloid. The film fetched the actor his first of the three national awards.

“Since I’m the hero of the film, I will certainly be involved in all sort of promotion of the film. This is the first Malayalam film which will have a national release and of course, I’m excited. But I’m certainly being apprehensive too, because too much expectation is not a good thing,” said Mammootty.

“Resul Pookutty has designed the sound and we were together last week and he too appears to be happy. Any way, now we will wait,” said Mammootty.