Pulimurugan

Pulimurugan
File:Pulimurugan film poster.jpg First-look poster
Directed by	Vysakh
Produced by	Tomichan Mulakupadam
Written by	Udayakrishna
Starring	Mohanlal Kamalini Mukherjee Jagapati Babu Kishore Lal
Music by	Gopi Sunder
Cinematography	Shaji Kumar
Edited by	Mahesh Narayanan
Production company	Mulakupadam Films
Distributed by	Mulakupadam Release
Release dates	7 July 2016 (2016-07-07)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Pulimurugan: The Wild Hunter (English: Tiger Murugan) is a forthcoming Indian Malayalam-language action adventure film directed by Vysakh and written by Udayakrishna starring Mohanlal in the titular role. It is the first independent screenplay penned by Udayakrishna of the Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas duo writers. The film is being produced under Mulakupadam Films by Tomichan Mulakupadam, features background score and soundtrack composed by Gopi Sunder with cinematography handled by Shaji Kumar.

The film, which commenced production in July 2015 in Hanoi, Vietnam, is scheduled for release on 7 July 2016, coinciding with the Ramadan. The film was shot using Arri Alexa XT camera for principal photography. Peter Hein handles the fight choreography.

Cast

• Mohanlal as "Puli" Murugan
• Kamalini Mukherjee
• Namitha as Julie
• Jagapati Babu
• Suraj Venjaramoodu
• Bala
• Vinu Mohan
• Lal
• M. R. Gopakumar
• Kishore
• Makarand Deshpande
• Harish Peradi
• Anjali Aneesh Upasana
• Nobi
• Baby Durga Premjith
• Ratheesh Nambiar

Production

Development

In June 2014, director Vysakh announced his next project Pulimurugan which will be scripted by Udayakrishna of Udaykrishna – Sibi K Thomas duo and will feature Mohanlal as the lead. Tomichan Mulakupadam signed to produce the film under the banner Mulakupaadam Films. Peter Hein who is known for many popular Indian films as action choreographer was selected by Vysakh as the film features many fight scenes. Large part of the film was shot in Hanoi in Vietnam.

Casting and crew

In August 2015, Bengali actress Kamalini Mukherjee was announced as the female lead opposite Mohanlal. Her first time with Mohanlal, Kamalini has previously worked with Vysakh in a guest appearance in Cousins (2014). According to Kamalini, her role is quite rustic and completely out of her comfort zone, something she have never laid her hands on before, and "the character has no urban nuances or traits". Some of her key scenes with Mohanlal was shot in Kochi by second week of August 2015. In September 2015, Kishore confirmed his part as a forest officer with an antagonistic shade. Kishore was in a transformation stage from negative to positive roles then. He said he took the role as it was a Mohanlal film. Through some Twitter photos taken from the filming locations which went online on 13 September, the presence of south Indian actress Namitha was confirmed in the film. Later in October, Bala was confirmed in a prominent role. He was impressed with his role for which he left from the Tamil film Vedalam (2015) directed by his brother, Siva, for Pulimurugan. Suraj Venjaramoodu was the other actor signed in the film. Peter Hein was selected as the action choreography for the film; screenplay is done by Udayakrishna while cinematography was handled by Shaji Kumar. Gopi Sunder signed as the music composer. The presence of two additional cast members - Lal and Makarand Deshpande was revealed from the official poster released in April 2016.

Filming

The film which was announced in December 2013 was reported to start production in the following year in September 2014 for a christmas 2014 release, but eventually got postponed. The film was re-scheduled for a mid-June start, but was again postponed. Principal photography began on 17 July 2015 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The film was shot using Arri Alexa XT. Other filming locations were Silent Valley and Attappadi in Kerala. The second schedule started in Pooyamkutty forest, Kothamangalam, Eranakulam district. The crew filmed in the interiors of the dense forest for a few days. The forest department strictly prohibited the public entry into this region.

While in Pooyamkutty city, a scuffle between the crew and the local natives happened reportedly at around 7.30 pm on 10 September 2015. Apparently, the driver of the lorry "Mayil Vahanam" which was being used by Mohanlal's character in the film started the trouble. Fistfights ensued between local people and the crew members. A native youth was hospitalized with severe injuries. In late September 2015, there were some reports that the filming which was undergoing at the forest areas of Pooyamkutty locality is halted upon a stay order issued by the Kerala High Court, after a petition alleging the production team is dumping harmful materials used for creating film sets and is planning to execute a bomb blast scene in the forest. The court ordered an inquiry on the subject. But this report was immediately denied by the production team, they told the filming is very much alive at the Pooyamkutty forest and there is no court order against the film. The filming is progressing at high secrecy with the help of police security, so the fake news may have created by those who are not allowed to enter the premises.

An additional schedule started on 17 January 2016 at Ernakulam for filming the climax sequences in 18 days long schedule. The filming was progressed with no media coverage allowed on the sets. Mohanlal joined the sets on the same day for a two weeks filming. The main location for filming was Vietnam, where the major stunt sequences were filmed in the Hang Sơn Đoòng caves in the mountain ranges of Vietnam in about 15 days. Mohanlal did not use a body double for a 20 minute long climax fight sequence with a tiger. The whole filming took place in various locations in Kerala, Vietnam, South Africa, and Thailand.

Themes

In August 2015, Mohanlal said in an interview to Amrita TV, that the film contains an animal as the antagonist and story goes through the emotions of human and the animal. The film's tagline is "The Wild Hunter", which was revealed by the release of its first-look poster on 6 August 2015. The poster featuring Mohanlal illustrated his character as a hunter, looking intense like a predator whose sight set on the prey and is getting ready to launch himself on it, right hand clutching the ground and right leg firmly dug into the soil gathering force, left hand spread like a wing to maintain the balance and left leg placed strategically to give additional thrust for the attack.

The story happens in a village called Puli and Mohanlal plays Pulimurugan, a person who lends helping hands to the villagers.

Music

The film's music is composed by Gopi Sunder. There are two tracks, in which one will be a lullaby sung by S. Janaki, and the other song is rendered by Jassie Gift and Shreya Ghoshal.

Release

The film was initially planned for a release in December 2015, during the time of Christmas. But the filming did not completed, which postponed the film to open during the Hindu festival of Vishu in April 2016. But the release date was again pushed to July as the filming will only complete on March 10, and considering the post-production works beginning in the end of March which last for two and a half months. Pulimurugan is finally scheduled to release on 7 July 2016 during Eid. Releasing in over 3000 theatres worldwide.

External links

• Pulimurugan on Facebook