As the much-anticipated release of director Blessy’s Aadujeevitham (The Goat Life) draws near, slated for March 28, actor Prithviraj Sukumaran is poised to shift his focus completely towards his third directorial project L2: Empuraan soon.
Serving as the second instalment in a planned trilogy following the 2019 blockbuster Lucifer, Empuraan will see Malayalam superstar Mohanlal reprising his role as Khureshi-Ab’raam aka Stephen Nedumpally.
Meanwhile, actor-director Prithviraj recently revealed that it took him around 18 months to scout all the perfect filming locations for Empuraan. While the movie, he said, will feature places like Thiruvananthapuram, Vandiperiyar and Ernakulam, it also delves into another realm. “Yet, the cinema is not just about those things,” he stated during a chat with Cue Studio.
“(Just like Lucifer), Empuraan will also feature places like Thiruvananthapuram, Vandiperiyar and Ernakulam. But as the second instalment of a franchise, there is another world as well in Empuraan. Even now, when we try to conceive such things in Indian films, we don’t get the real results,” Prithviraj mentioned.
Watch L2: Empuraan launch video here:
“So, I wanted to go to the real locations and shoot. The task of finding the right locations for Empuraan ended up consuming about one and a half years of my career. Nevertheless, we were able to find all the right locations and go there and shoot. Yet, the cinema is not just about those things. It’s a story about our land itself. I don’t know if I am making the kind of film that people are expecting,” he added.
Previously, Prithviraj had shed light on the highly anticipated actioner’s style and tone, revealing that approximately 20 per cent of the filming has been completed. “I have finished my portions in the UK, and I have finished the portions that I needed to shoot in the US, and now I have portions remaining in the UAE and India. So, maybe I have shot about 20 per cent of the film. But I don’t even know if the film I’m making is the sequel that people expect of Lucifer,” he said during a chat with Film Companion.
“You are not going to see Mohanlal wind up his mundu (dhoti) and beat up people in a closed-down factory. That is not what I’m making… So, let’s see… Maybe I will add one of those Bollywoodish end-title songs (laughs),” he added.
Penned by Murali Gopy, Empuraan also stars Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, Sai Kumar, Baiju Santhosh, Saniya Iyappan and Sachin Khedekar, all reprising their roles from Lucifer. The new movie is being jointly produced by Aashirvad Cinemas and Lyca Productions.
