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Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (titled Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham in Malayalam and Maraikkayar: Arabikadalin Singam in Tamil) is an upcoming Indian period war film directed by Priyadarshan. Set in the 16th century Kozhikode, the film is based on Kunjali Marakkar IV, the admiral of the fleet of the Samoothiri. Priyadarshan scripted the film with Ani Sasi. The film was produced by Antony Perumbavoor through Aashirvad Cinemas, with Roy C. J. and Santosh T. Kuruvilla as co-producers. The film stars Mohanlal in the title role, and also features Suniel Shetty, Arjun Sarja, Prabhu, Ashok Selvan, Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh, Nedumudi Venu, Siddique, Mukesh, Pranav Mohanlal, Jay J. Jakkrit, Max Cavenham, and Toby Sauerback in supporting roles.

Initial plan for a film based on the admirals Kunjali Marakkar started between Priyadarshan, Mohanlal, and screenwriter T. Damodaran in 1996. Damodaran pitched a plot idea in 1999. However, the film did not materialised in Damodaran's lifetime because of high budget requirement, which was unaffordable for a Malayalam film at that time. Priyadarshan kept the project on mind for years, until in 2017 he proceeded with the research work. Due to scarce documentation, contradicting accounts and perspectives, he had to develop his own version of the character and events by synthesizing history, fiction, and folklore. He modelled it after a chapter he had learnt as a child in his grade three textbook, and also incorporated inputs from Damodaran. Final draft was completed by June 2018.

Principal photography took place from December 2018 to March 2019, filmed in sets created at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad. It lasted 104 days and post-production took 14 months. Four life-size ship replicas were constructed and was shot inside a water tank. The sea was completely created using visual effects. Sabu Cyril and Siddharth Priyadarshan oversaw the production design and visual effects supervision, respectively. The film was shot simultaneously in Malayalam and Tamil languages. Production began with an estimated budget of ₹100 crore. It was reportedly completed with a cost of ₹85 – 100 crore, making it the most expensive Malayalam film to date. The original score was composed by Rahul Raj, Ankit Suri & Lyell Evans Roeder,; and songs by Ronnie Raphael.

The film, originally scheduled to release on 19 March 2020 and moved to 26 March was further delayed by the outbreak of COVID-19. It was then rescheduled and postponed through three more dates in March, May, and August 2021 before settling on a release date by the end of the year. Meanwhile, at the 67th National Film Awards, the film won three awards—Best Feature Film, Best Special Effects, and Best Costume Design. Lion of the Arabian Sea is now scheduled to be released worldwide on 2 December 2021.

Cast

• Mohanlal as Muhammad Ali / Kunjali Marakkar IV
• Suniel Shetty as Chandroth Panicker
• Arjun Sarja as Anandan
• Prabhu as Thangudu
• Ashok Selvan as Achuthan
• Manju Warrier as Subaida
• Keerthy Suresh as Aarcha
• Nedumudi Venu as Samoothiri
• Pranav Mohanlal as Mammali / Kunjali Marakkar IV
• Kalyani Priyadarshan as Aisha
• Mukesh as Dharmoth Panicker
• Siddique as Pattu Marakkar
• Fazil as Kutti Ali Marakkar
• Suhasini Maniratnam as Khadeejumma
• Innocent as Namath Kurup
• K. B. Ganesh Kumar as Verkottu Panicker
• Mamukkoya as Aboobakkar Haji
• Nandhu as Kuthiravattath Nair
• Hareesh Peradi as Mangattachan
• Baburaj as Puthumana Panicker
• Suresh Krishna as Moidu
• Manikuttan as Mayinkutty
• Santhosh Keezhattoor as Kokkattu Panicker
• G. Suresh Kumar as Kochi Rajavu
• Jay J. Jakkrit as Chiang Juvan / Chinali
• Komal Sharma as Puthumana Thampuratti
• Max Cavenham as André Furtado de Mendonça
• Toby Sauerback as Viceroy Francisco de Gama
• Paul Huntley-Thomas as Alphonso De Noronha
• Arjun Nandhakumar as Nambyadiri
• Veena Nandakumar
• Krishna Prasad
• Harish Siva
• Shiyas Kareem
• Antony Perumbavoor

Production

Development

A film based on Kunjali Marakkar was originally planned by Priyadarshan with screenwriter T. Damodaran in 1996, with Mohanlal in the title role. The idea for the film originated and was discussed in length at the sets of Mohanlal-starring Kaalapani (1996) in Kozhikode. Due to budget constraints, it did not progress, "back then, our industry size was very limited and most producers weren't ready to invest hugely in such big ventures", said Priyadarshan. Damodaran pitched a plot idea in 1999, but "it was inconceivable back then to make a film that was extensively set at sea", said Priyadarshan. The project was still on their mind for years. Priyadarshan recalled that it was difficult to shoot with one ship in Kaalapani, let alone a film with multiple ships on turbulent waters of the Arabian Sea. Years later, with the advancement of visual effects and producers willing to fund the film, Priyadarshan revisited the idea. Meanwhile, during 2008 – 2009, director Jayaraj too planned a film on Kunjali Marakkar with Mohanlal in the title role and T. P. Rajeevan hired to write the screenplay. It was ready to begin production and when the screenplay was handed over to Mohanlal, he did not show interest. That screenplay was later bought by August Cinema from Rajeevan for making a separate project with different cast and crew.

In 2013, Priyadarshan revealed that in addition to a Hindi film, he was working on a Malayalam period film about a Kunjali Marakkar chieftain with Mohanlal in the title role for which the research work was ongoing. On 1 November 2017, Priyadarshan confirmed to The Times of India that he would start the project after completing a Hindi film first and the ongoing research would require at least 10 more months to complete. They wanted to look deeper into history since what was gathered until then was information already available to the public. It was undecided then on which Kunjali Marakkar would Mohanlal portray out of the four Marakkars. Priyadarshan said the story he would come up would be a mix of fact and fiction, as the information about many of the incidents happened during that era are unavailable. Priyadarshan zeroed in on Kunjali Marakkar IV as the protagonist as he "has the most interesting story". Mohanlal said that their idea was to make make a patriotic film. Marakkar IV was in the forefront of resistance against the Portuguese invaders and is regarded as the first naval commander in India and was also an expert navigator. That is why they have dubbed him the "lion of the Arabian Sea".

The movie is something that all of us can be proud of, as it's well made. It tells the story of Kunjali Marakkar, who is considered as India's first Naval Commander and we are dedicating the film to the Indian Navy. The making is a level higher than usual Malayalam films and it has made use of all the available technical facilities.

— Mohanlal

The title of the film was officially announced at a press conference held at Kochi on 28 April 2018 by Priyadarshan, Mohanlal, producer Antony Perumbavoor and co-producers Santhosh T. Kuruvilla and Roy C. J. The budget was revealed to be ₹100 crore, making it the most expensive film made in Malayalam cinema—produced under the company Aashirvad Cinemas, with Moonshot Entertainments and Confident Group as co-producers. Production is said to have begun on 1 November 2018 on the day of Kerala Piravi. Priyadarshan said that it took him three years to commence filming from the day he had conceived the film.

Writing

Priyadarshan co-wrote the screenplay with his disciple Ani Sasi. Ani himself expressed interest in collaborating with Priyadarshan when he learned that the later was working on a film about Kunjali Marakkar. Priyadarshan also incorporating many inputs from late Damodaran from their early discussions. The first draft was completed in April 2018. It was estimated to require seven months for pre-production and eight months for post-production. They completed the final draft by early June 2018. The story spans from 1505 to 1601 period. Marakkar IV was chosen as the protagonist not only because he has the most interesting story, but also they knew more about him than the other Marakkars, and he was the one who brought lot of strategies, and "everything ended with him". Priyadarshan said that not many reliable sources exists about Marakkar I, and facts about Marakkar II, III, and IV are a mystery, and their available accounts are conflicting with each other. The screenplay was written with a combination of facts, fiction, and folklore. He said that his characters are historical figures but they all may not be contemporaries, a cinematic liberty he has taken.

Most of the female characters in the film are imaginary. Due to lack of sufficient written history and reliable sources, it is difficult to know the facts about Marakkars. There were more unanswered questions and contradicting accounts and perspectives. Priyadarshan relied on commonsense and basic human behavioral patterns to fill the gaps. According to him, the screenplay contains 30 percent history and 70 percent fiction. Marakkar IV is presented like a hero of a fairy tale. Since nothing much is known about Marakkar IV, artistic freedom was to be used to tell his story. Whatever found about him was completely contradictory, while the Europeans portray him as a villain, the Arabs hail him as a savior. Priyadarshan took the basic structure of the story from a chapter he learned as a child in his grade three textbook and worked on that. According to him, "Marakkar was a patriot whose loyalty to his land came above barriers of caste and religion. That is my message in my film. If Kunjali Marakkar could do it so many years ago, why do we find it so difficult to put our country ahead of caste, religion and region?". A disclaimer is added in the opening of the film that it contains fiction.

Casting

Mohanlal was attached to the project in the initial discussion itself in 1996. The screenplay was written with Mohanlal in mind as Priyadarshan wanted an actor with an image that fits the larger-than-life stature of Marakkar IV. Priyadarshan said that, "heroic figures like Marakkar or Velu Thampi Dalawa had this aura about them and Lal has that", also Marakkar IV was 53 years old when he died and Mohanlal suits the age too. The team was then on a lookout for a Chinese actor to play the role of Chinali, Marakkar IV's trusted lieutenant. In May 2018, it was reported that Nagarjuna, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal has been cast alongside Mohanlal in ensemble roles. Shetty was confirmed to have signed the film, while Nagarjuna was in talks for a role. Shetty grew his hair out for his role. In June, Nagarjuna said he has not yet heard the script and will sign only after that. At the end, he did not take the role. Madhu and Prabhu were confirmed in that month, with the former cast as Kunjali Marakkar I / Kuttiyali Marakkar. Prabhu plays a Tamil shipwright who build boats for Marakkar, such a character is mentioned in history. Madhu opted out from the film (and other films) as part of his decision to retire from cinema industry. Fazil took the role in his absence. Akshay Kumar was offered a role, but declined.

In July 2018, Durga Krishna was reported to have been cast in a pivotal role. The team was aiming to complete the casting by the end of September 2018, including the actress for female lead role. More cast were revealed in that month. Arjun Sarja was confirmed in a principal role. Both Shetty's and Sarja's roles are based on real-life characters in a "slightly fictionalised" forms as not much about them are known from history. Renji Panicker, Nedumudi Venu and Siddique were confirmed in supporting roles. Priyadarshan revealed that Pranav Mohanlal and Kalyani Priyadarshan will be making "special appearances" in the film, with Pranav enacting a young Marakkar IV. They play a couple. Kalyani said she herself asked her father for a role in the film. Keerthy Suresh plays an important role. She learned veena as part of preparing for her character who is trained in classical music. Her character has a romantic relationship with Chinali / Chiang Juvan, played by Chinese actor Jay J. Jakkrit. Mukesh was confirmed to be in the film. In October 2018, Pooja Kumar was in talks for a role. Manju Warrier was cast as Subaida. Ashok Selvan was cast in an antagonistic role, making his debut in Malayalam cinema. Shiyas Kareem was cast as a sidekick in Marakkar IV's gang; he had 50 days shoot.

Filming and production design

Principal photography began on 1 December 2018 at Ramoji Film City, Hyderabad. Cinematography was handled by Tirru. Co-writer Ani Sasi also worked as an assistant director in the film. Pranav and Kalyani shot a few scenes early that month. A song sequence between the two was choreographed by Brinda. Prasanna Sujit choreographed another sequence. Mohanlal joined the sets in mid December. Filming was wrapped by late March 2019. Principal photography lasted 104 days. The film was shot simultaneously in Malayalam and Tamil languages. Bulk of filming took place at Ramoji Film City itself, a five-day shoot was also held in Thiruvananthapuram. Meeting scene between the Samoothiri and the Portuguese was shot at Adimalathura, Thiruvananthapuram. B. Thyagarajan, Kazu Neda and Sumret Muangput were responsible for the action sequences.

Priyadarshan's frequent collaborator Sabu Cyril was the film's production designer. The story is set 500 years ago in what is now Kerala. Even though the events happened during that period are recorded in history, there are no proper documentation about the outfits, ornaments, their colour, weapons or home appliances used. Hence, some of them were made from imagination and referring available material. Ships were not built but bought from Egypt during the period of Kunjali Marakkars. Four life-size ship replicas and a 200×200 metre tank were built at Ramoji Film City. Installed on a one-acre space, the tank was filled with 150,000 litre of water. The film was never shot on sea, the action sequences on the high seas, the storm, and the thundering waves was completely created using visual effects. There are no paintings of Marakkar IV, and it is unknown how he became the admiral of the Samoothiri. There were hardly any pictorial references regarding the costumes or ornaments worn by the warriors and the people, for that they had to depend on their imagination and some books and paintings for reference. Several other sets were also created for the film. Canons were build accurately, but swords, shields, and helmets of Samoothiri's arsenal was made by referring similar armory existed in that century, exact models could not be found. A total of 40 canons and more than 1000 swords were made. Some swords were made from carbon fibers while others were from bamboo. Horses were used in the film because there was recorded history that Samoothiri used to import horses from Bahadur Shah of Gujarat.

On setting the period, they also considered the temperature of that period, which was only 21 degree Celsius at peak in summer. Priyadarshan said that creating the old mast ships, war galleys of the Portuguese, and the battle sequences on sea were the bigger challenges in making the film. For research, Priyadarshan could not locate the spot or remains of neither Marakkars' fort in Iringal, nor Samoothiri's palace, even Archaeological Survey of India did not had any clue. In the film, elephant is used as the insignia of Samoothiri's kingdom. The idea was taken from the Emblem of Kerala which is presumed to be composed of the elephant insignia of Samoothiti and shanku insignia of Trivandrum kingdom. Since Samoothiri bought the ships from Egypt by bartering spices, his ships are Arabian model. Cyril took only ₹25 lakh as remuneration, which was far less than what he usually charge, for his love for the film. Sujith Sudhakaran and V. Sai was in charge of the costume department. Keerthy's wardrobes, ornaments and character looks were based on three Raja Ravi Varma paintings. Indrakshi Pattanaik was her stylist.

Post-production

M. S. Aiyappan Nair was the editor, digital intermediate was processed by Prime Focus studio. M. R. Rajakrishnan of Sync Cinema was the sound designer. Around a quarter of the film is set in sea, nonetheless, the film was never shot on sea, except for a shot of sea shore. The sea was completely created using visual effects. Priyadarshan's son Siddharth Priyadarshan worked as the film's visual effects supervisor, he hired his son to reduce the film's cost. Siddharth divided the graphics work among four personnel. The film was shot using storyboard (which is scarcely used in Indian productions) as it is helpful in creating visual effects. In Priyadarshan's view, success of a film like Lion of the Arabian Sea depends largely on the fineness of graphics, "if you don't get your graphics right, the film will look terrible. Which we have seen often in Indian cinema". Priyadarshan said that the most difficult thing to create in VFX is water and fire, for that they bought necessary software from Austria and Hungary. Pune-based Anibrain, and two Chennai-based Knack Studios and Golden Star Studio were employed for the film's visual effects creation. Post-production began in Chennai as soon as they completed filming. It was expected to last 11 months, with eight months consuming for visual effects alone. Post-production took 14 months to complete. The film was reportedly completed with a cost of ₹85 – 100 crore. The film's theatrical cut runs for 181.07 minutes. It underwent censoring in India on 23 December 2019.

Music

Score

The original score was composed by Rahul Raj, Ankit Suri and Lyell Evans Roeder. Suri and Roeder, composers of Alternative Fidelity, a British-American music production house were hired to compose the score for battle sequences in the film. It was also their debut in Malayalam cinema. A few months later, Rahul Raj, who freshly graduated from Berklee College of Music was hired to independently compose and produce the rest of the score. Raj was chosen by Priyadarshan after being impressed watching a video of him conducting a 52-piece London orchestra as part of his thesis in Berklee. While scoring, Raj avoided giving a regional touch to the music which would have been easier for a film set in Malabar, as Priyadarshan was clear that he was making a film which caters for a global audience and it should resonate in its music too. Deviating from his usual norm, Priyadarshan gave full creative freedom to Rahul Raj for scoring, who is known for giving references and definitive instructions to his composers. His only instruction was to imagine as if he is working for a Hollywood epic and compose with that on mind. Raj wanted a soundscape that could bring an epic feel as in films produced during the golden age of Hollywood. He mentioned Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments as examples. Beside composing, Rahul Raj also performed programming and production entirely by himself as opposed to have additional programmers in many regular film scores. The Chennai Strings Orchestra read string pieces for some of the significant portions.

Songs

The original songs in Malayalam were composed by Ronnie Raphael. In the initial stage, Priyadarshan planned only fours songs in the film, with one being instrumental. His plan was to experiment by diving three songs to three composers. However, all songs were finally given to Raphael. Raphael had composed music for Priyadarshan's Hindi film Anamika in the Forbidden Love series, after which he was offered the position in Lion of the Arabian Sea too. He composed five songs for the film. Recording began as early as November 2018 when filming had not begun. The songs were sung by K. S. Chithra, M. G. Sreekumar, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Shweta Mohan, Shreya Ghoshal and Zia Ul Haq, with lyrics by Prabha Varma, B. K. Harinarayanan, Shafi Kollam, and Priyadarshan. Saina Music acquired the music rights in February 2020 for an all time record sum in Malayalam cinema.

The first single "Kunju Kunjali", sung by K. S. Chithra was released in all languages on 5 February 2021. A flute cover of "Kunju Kunjali" by Josy Alappuzha, who also played flute in the original track, was released on 13 February 2021. It was released on digital music platforms on 6 March 2021 as a track in the album. A teaser of second track "Kannil Ente" was released on 5 April 2021, coinciding on Kalyani Priyadarshan's birthday, and the full song was released in all languages on 12 April 2021. The third track "Chembinte Chelulla", sung by Vishnu Raj was released in all languages on 21 May 2021, marking Mohanlal's birthday. The fourth track "Ilaveyil" was released on 20 November 2021 in all languages. The fifth track "Neeye En Thaaye" was released on 27 November 2021 in all languages.

Release

Scheduling

The film was originally scheduled to be released on 19 March 2020, as announced in October 2019. It was then moved to 26 March by January 2020. However, it was further postponed without a release date after the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Priyadarshan said that the postponement was at the behest of exhibitors in the Gulf, particularly those across Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as the box office collection from these countries are crucial to the film's success. In February 2021, Mohanlal told to Variety that it is a global film with an international release, so they are waiting for the COVID-19 situation to normalise, "when everything settles and people are back to the theaters, only then can we release". The film was then rescheduled and postponed again three times in 2021: 26 March, 13 May, and 12 August.

Fans show tickets for more than 100 shows were already sold out when it postponed release in March 2020. There was a surge in COVID-19 cases in India when it was about to release in May 2021 coinciding with Eid al-Fitr. The film could not release in the Onam holidays aimed August 2021 date as the test positivity rate (TPR) in Kerala was the highest in India at that time and theatres remained closed per government order. Theatres were later allowed to run with half its seating capacity. On 6 November 2021, producer Antony Perumbavoor said that they are cancelling theatrical release and the film will have a direct-to-OTT premiere through Amazon Prime Video. Reportedly, they made a ₹90 crore deal with Prime Video for a direct-to-OTT premiere. In early November 2021, a preview show was held for Mohanlal, his wife Suchitra Mohanlal, and producer Antony in Chennai, the theatrical experience from the show changed their decision to opt for a theatrical release. On 11 November, Saji Cheriyan, minister of Kerala State Film Development Corporation announced that the film will be releasing on 2 December 2021 in theatres, which was decided after a meeting with the makers. The government also waived entertainment tax for all films releasing in Kerala until 31 December. The makers renegotiated and relaxed the deal with Prime Video to allow for a theatrical debut prior to OTT. The film's release date coincide with the National Day holiday of the United Arab Emirates, where it premieres a day early, on 1 December 2021.

Distribution

The film was reported to be releasing in more than 5000 theatres worldwide in March 2020, and in more than 50 countries worldwide, which would make it the largest release for a Malayalam film up until then. Beside original Malayalam and Tamil versions, the film also has dubbed versions in Hindi, Telugu, English, and Kannada. Priyadarshan said that they also plans to dub the film in Arabic. In 2019, they made a deal to release the film in China, dubbed in Chinese, and signed a co-production and distribution agreement with a Chinese company. Kalaipuli S. Thanu of V. Creations bought the distribution right for the film's Tamil version. The Telugu version is distributed by Suresh Productions.

Marketing

On 22 September 2019, a sneak peak footage of the film was exclusively screened at Aashirvadathode Lalettan, an event held at Gokulam Park, Kochi, organised by Aashirvad Cinemas. The first trailer released in March 2020 was edited by Alphonse Putharen. In November 2021, a promotional event was conducted on the luxury cruise ship Nefertiti Cruise, organised in association with Jain International School of Creative Arts.

Accolades

References

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External links

• Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea at IMDb

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