Director Sugeeth says he is sure that Kunchacko Boban (Chackochen) will get a major career boost, playing Peeli aka Peelipose, a tiger hunter in Shikkari Shambu. "It is going to be Chackochen's mass avatar. I believe Shikari Shambu will do what Meesha Madhavan did to Dileep's career," says the director.
The film is a comic entertainer with Chackochen playing Peelipose, a con man posing as a tiger hunter. On whether he expects to recreate the Ordinary magic, Sugeeth says he always believed in pulling off casting coups. "In Ordinary, I placed Chackochen in a character one usually associates with Dileep. Here, too, the game-changer was in casting Chackochen in a role that we don't often identify him with. Peelipose is one such character and he has pulled it off well," says Sugeeth.
Peelipose is a tiger hunter and, naturally, we expect some onscreen stunts with a tiger. But, Sugeeth says that whether or not there is a tiger is a suspense. "People may draw comparisons to Pulimurugan, but there is nothing similar. The story is set in a hamlet where deaths occur allegedly due to a tiger. The narrative
revolves around this and the climax will provide all answers," says the director.The movie was shot in the forests of Kuttampuzha and Sugeeth remembers how the crew battled extreme weather and wild animals during the shoot.
"It was a very taxing experience. The hardest part was the sudden showers and subsequent landslides. One moment it was calm and the next the skies would open up. Some days we couldn't shoot beyond two hours. In a very scary incident, wild elephants went on a rampage and destroyed our set totally. We had to rebuild it again. This happened twice," remembers Sugeeth.Shikkari Shambu also has Vishnu Unnikrishnan, Hareesh Perumana and Sshivada in significant roles. The movie will hit the theatres on January 18.