Kayamkulam Kochunni (2018 film)

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Kayamkulam Kochunni
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Rosshan Andrrews
Produced by	Gokulam Gopalan
Written by	Bobby & Sanjay
Starring	Mohanlal Nivin Pauly Priya Anand
Music by	Gopi Sundar
Cinematography	Binod Pradhan Nirav Shah Sudheer Palsane
Edited by	A. Sreekar Prasad
Production company	Sree Gokulam Movies
Distributed by	Gokulam Movies Release
Release date	18 August 2018
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹450 million[1]

Kayamkulam Kochunni is an upcoming Indian Malayalam-language epic period film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Bobby & Sanjay. It is based on the life of Kayamkulam Kochunni, a famed highwayman who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor during the British Raj in the early 19th century Central Travancore. The film stars Nivin Pauly in the title role; Mohanlal makes a cameo appearance as highwayman Ithikkara Pakki.

Principal photography commenced on 30 September 2017 in Udupi, Karnataka.

Cast

• Nivin Pauly as Kayamkulam Kochunni
• Priya Anand as Janaki
• Priyanka Thimmesh as Suhra
• Sunny Wayne as Keshavan
• Babu Antony as Thangal, Kochunni's mentor
• Manikandan R. Achari
• Thesni Khan
• Shine Tom Chacko as Kochu Pillai
• Romanch as Kunju Marakkaar
• Jude Anthany Joseph
• Sudev Nair
• Sunil Sukhada
• Sudheer Karamana
• M. S. Bhaskar
• Edavela Babu
• Ashwini Chandrashekhar

Additionally, Mohanlal makes a cameo appearance in the role of Ithikkara Pakki, a highwayman contemporary to Kochunni. Nora Fatehi appears in a song sequence.

Production

Development

By late August 2016, Rosshan Andrrews confirmed via media outlets that he would be directing a film based on the life of Kerala's heroic outlaw Kayamkulam Kochunni, written by his regular collaborators Bobby & Sanjay and Nivin Pauly would enact the role. The film was to be produced by Gokulam Gopalan through Sree Gokulam Movies. This is the second film based on Kayamkulam Kochunni after the 1966 film of the same name directed by P. A. Thomas.^[2] Kochunni was a real-life thief who lived in the 19th century in Central Travancore region. He is said to have stole from the rich and gave to the poor like Robin Hood.^[3] The screenplay was written after a two-and-a-half years research by an eight-member team. The script was rehashed three times. According to Andrrews, the film would feature Kochunni's life before and after his transition as a thief, his survival attempts, romance, and the social structure during his time. It would also discuss several unanswered questions in Kochunni's story. Kayamkulam Kochunni holds the subtitle "most dangerous man". Since the appearance of present-day Kayamkulam, Alappuzha district has changed from the time of Kochunni, a Sri Lankan village was planned to be set as Kayamkulam in the film. It was said that the filming would commence by the beginning of 2017 in Sri Lanka, a few scenes to be also shot in Kayamkulam. Andrrews also revealed that they have plans to dub the film and release in Tamil language. P. M. Satheesh was signed as the sound designer. Initially they had talks with Santhosh Narayanan to compose the music for the film.^[2]

Kayamkulam Kochunni is a period film set in the 1850s and 1860s in what is present-day Kerala.^[4] Bobby and Sanjay collected large amount of information beyond what was already known through Kottarathil Sankunni's Aithihyamala and hearsay. Sanjay said that the film focuses on Kochunni's relationships and friendships. Kochunni was a socialist thief, he fought against "unbelievable cruelty" over the caste system that prevailed during his time.^[5] The team went on location scouting in Sri Lanka in June 2017.^[6] In August, it was reported that the filming would begin on 10 September.^[5] Nivin started learning horse riding and Kalaripayattu in August, he had begun learning the basics earlier in the year.^[7] He also gained weight for the role.^[4] The script demanded the actors to be trained in Kalaripayattu. Apart from Nivin, actors Babu Antony and Sunny Wayne also underwent training. The training sessions were held at Andrrew's martial arts school in Kochi and went through September 2017.^[8] During pre-production, Andrrews created miniatures for every set to be used in the film. In early September, Nivin confirmed that the filming would commence in Udupi in a fortnight.^[9]

Casting

The film traverse through multiple timelines in Kochunni's life. Nivin was selected for the role since Andrrews felt that he has a flexible body language that suits any role, among his generation of actors. According to Sanjay, Nivin's features matches Sankunni's descriptions of Kochunni in Aithihyamala. Andrrews briefed the film's story to Nivin along with the story of another film he plans to follow up after Kayamkulam Kochunni, to both Nivin agreed.^[2] In July 2017, a casting call was released for both male and female aged between 5–40.^[10] Amala Paul and Priyanka Thimmesh was confirmed before August 2017. Amala's character was said to be an important figure in Kochunni's life; Priyanka plays the role of Suhra, his wife.^[5] Babu Antony confirmed his role in September 2017 as Ithingal Thangal, the mentor of Kochunni.^[11]

In late 2017, Amala opted out from the film due to scheduling conflicts, who was replaced by Priya Anand. Andrrews said the rain effected their schedule and had to make changes, which conflicted with Amala's dates who had commitments in Tamil films. Priya cancelled three films for Kayamkulam Kochunni; she plays Janaki. According to Priya, Janaki's story is relevant to every woman.^[12] Wayne plays the character named Keshavan, who is well trained in Kalaripayattu.^[7] In early January 2018, Nivin and Andrrews announced that Mohanlal would appear in the film in the role of Ithikkara Pakki, a robber contemporary to Kochunni.^[13] In a February 2018 interview, Sanjay revealed that Mohanlal has 40 minutes screen time who appears at a particular juncture in the story, "We wished for someone of his stature to play this character. Pakki is Kochunni's contemporary and predecessor. It's Pakki who started the unique style of robbing and that’s what Kochunni continued with".^[14] In March 2018, Nora Fatehi was confirmed to be appearing in a song sequence in the film, which also features Nivin. Choreographed by Vishnu Deva, it was shot in Goa in that month.^[15]