We’re acting in a political satire for the first time: Manju Warrier and Soubin Shahir

Manju Warrier said Vellaripattanam has a fun element. “We can present a topic in different ways and this one explores ‘satire’. After reading the script, I spotted the fun element in the movie,” she said.

The cast and crew had a great time working together since they all knew each other quite well.

Manju Warrier and Soubin Shahir in ‘Vellaripattanam’. (Supplied)

Interestingly, director Santosh Sivan’s Jack N Jill (2022), a science-fiction comedy featuring Manju Warrier and Soubin Shahir in key roles, turned out to be a box office dud.

Now that the duo is teaming up again, Vellaripattanam grabbed the attention of Malayalam audiences.

“While signing films, we all hope they would do well at the box office. We can’t blame the audience if they fail to meet up to their expectations; Jack N Jill is one such project. Hopefully, it won’t be repeated in the case of Vellaripattanam,” the 44-year-old actor quipped.

In fact, Manju Warrier was confident that Vellaripattanam would become a classic political satire movie like 1984’s Panchavadi Palam (Panchavadi bridge) and 1991’s Sandesham (message).

On successes and flops

She believes that for a film to strike a chord with the audience, it needs magic.

“A movie will be successful only if the audience connects with it – be it through actors’ performances, technicalities, budget, etc. When all these elements come together, they work wonders,” Manju Warrier asserted.

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Soubin Shahir, in a matter-of-fact tone, stated that all films won’t work.

“I believe that story is important for any film. But sometimes, the project won’t work even if it has a good storyline. Well, I am not sure what goes wrong in that case,” he said.

‘Have put extra effort into Vellaripattanam’

Soubin Shahir plays the male lead in Vellaripattanam. The actor has been criticised for his Kochi slang in most of his films.

“However, I have put in extra effort to get rid of the slang in my dialogues. Frankly, I didn’t understand the meaning of a few words. Nevertheless, director Mahesh Vettiyaar helped me a lot,” he added.

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This is the first time that Soubin Shahir is essaying the role of a politician. “I never worked for a political party and did not know the terminology. But I enjoyed doing the role, thanks to the crew.”

’Romancham had the potential to be a hit’

Meanwhile, Soubin Shahir is basking in the success of his latest release Romancham. He said approved the movie soon after the initial talks.

“I was sure that the film would be a hit as it had a strong subject. “However, I never thought that it would be a huge success.”

The actor stated that he was initially involved in Romancham’s production works but backed off later due to certain reasons.

Trailer released

At the press meet, the cast and crew released the trailer of Vellaripattanam which hinted that the project is a political satire.

In the trailer, Manju Warrier appears as KP Sunanda (in the getup of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi).

The movie is produced by Full On Studios. Alex J Pulickal is the cinematographer. Appu Bhattathiri is the editor. Sachin Shankor Mannath is the music director.