Confirming the speculations from the last few weeks, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Manju Warrier are set to headline the next film from horror specialist Rahul Sadasivan. The film is titled Odiyan: The Age of Illusion, and will be the director’s fourth successive venture in the genre, following Shane Nigam-Revathy's Bhoothakaalam, the Mammootty-starrer Bramayugam and Pranav Mohanlal headliner Dies Irae.
Notably, Odiyan marks the Malayalam debut of renowned Bollywood banner Dharma Productions, headed by Karan Johar, which is backing the project in association with Prithviraj Productions. Alongside Karan, Adar Poonawalla and Apoorva Mehta are also producing the film for Dharma Productions, while Supriya Menon oversees the project on behalf of Prithviraj Productions.
Announcing the project on social media along with the unveiling of its title poster, Karan wrote, “We at Dharma Productions are taking our first step into the world of Malayalam cinema and I am proud to announce that we have the best partners to do it with. Prithviraj, we’ve come such a long way with multiple collaborations behind us and hopefully many more ahead of us too. It gives us great pride to announce our film - Odiyan, directed by the supremely talented Rahul Sadasivan. His knack for eerie storytelling rooted in folklore is a feat in this age of cinema. Bringing this to life on screen is the exceptional Manju Warrier and of course, our favourite Prithviraj himself.”
Odiyan is a mythical figure in Kerala folklore, often described as a traditional black-magic practitioner of odividya, with the ability to assume different forms and wield illusion as a weapon. It must be noted that director VA Shrikumar Menon attempted a film with the same title and a similar theme in 2018, starring Mohanlal. More recently, Dulquer Salmaan also played an Odiyan in Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra.
Rahul Sadasivan’s Odiyan is targeting a multilingual release, with dubbed versions in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi set to be developed. Some of the director’s regular collaborators, like music composer Christo Xavier and editor Shafique Mohamed Ali, are confirmed to be part of the film's technical team.
Prithviraj is expected to commence filming for the project after completing work on Vysakh's actioner Khalifa, which features Mohanlal in a pivotal cameo, slated for a theatrical release on August 20.
Manju, last seen in the Tamil film Mr X, also has two other upcoming Malayalam films in different stages of production: Anand Menen's Happiloop and debutant Renjit Varma's Nere Chovva with Kunchacko Boban.