Mohanlal, Kavyamadhavan in "MADAMBI"

For all those who had doubts whether Mohanlal reads his scripts before accepting a new film, here is some food for thought.

Mohanlal after reading the complete script of writer-director T.S Suresh Babu's Karthika Thirunal Karthikeyan(KTK) has rejected it on the grounds that he has done similar larger-than-life character and the cost of the film will be over Rs 4 crore, making it financially a big risk for the producer Siraj Valiyaveetil.

KTK was Mohanlal's next big budget movie and the shoot was to start in the last week of March, with Parvathy Melton, Namitha and Padmapriya signed for the film, which was to be his Onam release.

Now Mohanlal is going to do Madambi written and directed by former journalist turned script writer B. Unnikrishnan (Smart City). Mohanlal is very impressed with Unni's script in which he plays an unusual role of a kind hearted money lender. For the first time Kavya Madhavan will be in a role of a full fledged heroine opposite the star.

In Madambi, Mohanlal plays Gopalakrishna Pillai, a money lender who has come up in life the hard way, but on the right track. He does not believe in lending money based on promissory note or blank cheques. Everything is based on love and on the strength of the borrower’s words (Vaaku). Pillai does not charge "blade" interest, but is very firm on getting interest and principle amount back, so he is the lord of the village he lives which has no bank or any other money lenders. One day out of the blue a private bank ‘New Generation Bank’ is set up by Jayalakshmi (Kavya Madhavan), which creates the twist in the tale.

Madambi is set against a hilly village in Central Travancore area, and Mohanlal speaks in the local dialect of the area. Jayasurya plays Mohanlal's younger brother and the film also has Sreenivasan, Jagathy, Siddique among others. Mohanlal wears traditional Mundu with Kara border, coloured Khadi shirts (see pic) in the film produced by a new banner Surya Cinemas of B.C Joshy.

The shoot of Madambi will start in the first week of April in Idukki after Mohanlal completes Sathyan Anthikad film and his cameo appearance in 20: Twenty.