The shooting of the magnum opus Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham began earlier this month and has been progressing with the stars joining the star cast. Kalyani Priyadarshan had said earlier in an interview to a leading daily that scenes involving her and Pranav Mohanlal were canned during the schedule. She also confirmed that there were no combination scenes with Mohanlal for her and Pranav as their portions are set in the flashback.

Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham is a star studded film with top stars making it to the cast. The film reportedly has Prabhu, Suneil Shetty, Manju Warrier, Arjun Sarja, Mukesh and Keerthy Suresh in pivotal roles.

According to latest reports, Arjun Sarja has joined the sets and scenes involving him are currently being canned. It may be noted here that the National Award winning art director Sabu Cyril is taking care of the art department and extravagant sets have been erected at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad, where the shooting commenced. Two huge ships have been erected for the film and a major portion of the budget has been allotted for it.

Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, made on a budget of Rs. 100 crores, will be produced jointly by Antony Perumbavoor, Santhosh T. Kuruvilla and C.J. Roy under their respective banners Aashirvad Cinemas, Confident Group and Moonshot Entertainment. The film is based on the true life of Kunjali Marakkar IV, who is the most popular of the Marakkars. It will have extensive sea warfare sequences which will be its highlight.

The film’s technical crew includes cinematographer Tirru and editor MS Ayyappan Nair.

According to Wikipedia, “The Kunhali Marakkar or Kunjali Marakkar was the title given to the Muslim naval chief of the Zamorin (Samoothiri), Hinduking of Calicut, in present-day state of Kerala, India during the 16th century. There were four major Kunhalis who played a part in the Zamorin’s naval wars with the Portuguese from 1502 to 1600.”