KOCHI: Director Shafi always selects curious titles for his movies. His new movie is no exemption to this. Titled 'Veneesile Vyaapri' (The Merchant of Venice), the film will have Mammotty in the lead role. The movie is produced by Madhavan Nair under the banner of Murali Films. James Albert is the script writer.
However, apart from the title and the protagonist being a merchant, the movie will not have any other similarities with William Shakespeare’s famous tragic comedy - The Merchant of Venice.
“The story revolves round an Alappuzha-based merchant. Alappuzha is also known as the Venice of the East. That is why we opted the title- 'Veneesile Vyaapari',” Shafi told Express.
Mammootty will portray the role of the merchant. This is Shafi’s fourth movie with Mammootty after ‘Thommanum Makkalum’, ‘Mayavi’ and ‘Chattambinaadu’. And it is for the first time that Shafi is teaming up with James Albert who has notable hits like ‘Classmates’, ‘Cycle’ and ‘Ividam Swargamanu’ in his kitty.
‘Veneesile Vyaapari’ will also be a comeback movie to the famous banner Murali Films. It is after a long gap of 15 years that Murali Films, the producers of hits like ‘Mazhayethum Munpe’, 'Chambakkulam Thachan’ and ‘Azhakiya Ravanan’, is producing a movie.
The movie will hit the screens in October, 2011.