Legendary actor Sukumaran had always dreamt of directing a movie. But he bid adieu to this world before he could realize that dream. Now, it is his son, actor Prithviraj, who is destined to fulfill Sukumaran’s dream, by donning the director’s hat. Lucifer directed by Prithviiraj starring super star Mohanlal in the lead role would hit the screens on 28 March. The movie, which has a running time of 2 hours and 50 minutes, was censored recently. It secured a U/A certificate without any cuts. Mallika Sukumaran, who has been a witness and a great source of support to the dreams of both father and son, gets candid about it.
“Once Sukumaran told director Shaji Kailas playfully, ‘One day you will to come to my house for my sons’. Later, it was Shaji who told about it when he came home to get Prithviraj’s dates for the movie Simhasanam. Sukumaran used to tell that his dreams would be fulfilled by his children. In fact, it is his greatest dream that is being fulfilled through Lucifer,” noted Mallika.
Mallika recalled that Sukumaran had invited Reji Mathew to assist him when he decided to direct a film. The screenplay of the movie was jointly prepared by the late actor and Reji. The movie was even titled ‘Paadam Pootha Kaalam’. It was decided that there would be two songs composed by Anil Thoppil, a native of Kottayam. Though Anil composed the songs, the recording didn’t happen. Mallika revealed that Sukumaran had planned to bankroll the movie himself. Though the cast wasn’t finalized, Ottapalam was decided as the primary location.
“We had planned to begin the filming in August 1997 and release for Christmas that year. But, even before that, on 16 June, he left this world. It was planned that the pooja of the film would be conducted on the first day of the Malayalam month of Chingam. I am extremely sad that that movie didn’t take off. I had kept the script of that movie, written in his handwriting, for some time. Two years after he died, I gave it to Reji and said he could make a movie with that script. But it never became a movie,” said Mallika.
“Sukumaran used to say that his kids would grow up to become incredibly efficient. It happened as he wished. By directing Lucifer, Prithviraj has fulfilled his father’s dream. Even though he hasn’t directed any movie earlier, he possess a great knowledge about movie making. He learned everything by working closely with various directors, cinematographers and editors. After completing the script of Lucifer, he spent two months to do a thorough home work about the entire script. It was a great meditative process which would often last until 1 am,” explained the veteran actress.
Mallika revealed that actor Mohanlal had praised Prithviraj for learning the script by heart. “Mohanlal had said that Prithvi had clear idea about the scenes that were already shot and also about the ones that were about to be filmed. He had amazing clarity about every character in the movie. Manju Warrier told me that he never would never let any actor perform something of their own,” said Mallika.
“Tovino too noted that it would have been a great loss had he not acted in this film. May be he said that because he has great love for Prithviraj. However, the general opinion is that the film has turned out well even before the release and Mohanlal’s is an amazing character which people will get to watch after a long time. The election season is already here and this movie deals with the theme of politics. Let the audience decide the rest after watching the movie,” concluded Mallika.
