Malayalam വിസ്മയം Produced by Sai Korrapati | Directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti Music by Mahesh Shankar | |
Screenplay by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti
Siby Jose Chalissery (Dialogues) Starring Mohanlal
Gautami
Viswant Duddumpudi
Raina Rao | ||
Vismayam (English: Amazement) a 2016 Indian Malayalam language film written and directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti starring Mohanlal, Gautami, Viswant Duddumpudi, and Raina Rao in lead roles. Produced by Sai Korrapati, the film was simultaneously made in Telugu as Manamantha. The film was officially launched on 29 November 2015 in Hyderabad, and principal photography commenced on the following day.
Contents
Vismayam was released on 5 August 2016. A dubbed Tamil version titled Namadhu released simultaneously along with the original Malayalam and Telugu versions.
Cast
Pre-production
The film was officially announced by Telugu film director Chandra Sekhar Yeleti on 14 October 2015. Produced by Sai Korrapati under his production company Varahi Chalana Chitram, the film was planned as a bilingual simultaneously made in Telugu and Malayalam languages. Mohanlal and Gautami was announced in the lead roles. The filming was then said to start by the third week of November. Yeleti described the film as a "family entertainer which involves four stories". According to film's executive producer Krishna Rao, it is an anthology film comprising four different stories, which at the end, will unite to the main plot. In Telugu, the film is titled Manamantha, while the film has also a Tamil dubbed version titled as Namadhu. Tamil lyricist Madhan Karky wrote the lyrics for the songs in Tamil as well as the dialogues for Namadhu.
Mohanlal and Gautami are teaming after a gap of 19 years since Iruvar (1997) directed by Maniratnam. Through the film, Gautami is returning to Malayalam cinema after a gap of 17 years. She will be dubbing herself for all the languages. According to the film's associate-director Siby Jose Chalissery, Mohanlal is trying two different acting styles for each version, and taking extra care for bringing that difference, "the scenes aren't exactly similar in the two versions. There are variations in the mannerisms, emotions and dialogue delivery,". He plays an assistant manager in a supermarket, a down-to-earth middle class man who "has strong principles and is not willing to forgo them for small gains in life,". Mohanlal dubbed for himself for all the languages, including the Tamil dubbed version. There was also negotiation with Bollywood actor Irrfan Khan for an important role. In October 2015, the production team also announced a casting call for a teenage girl. Viswant Duddumpudi was selected by Yeleti for one of the major roles in the film after performing a screen test for him. The casting team signed Anisha Ambrose for an important role as they were impressed with her performance in her past few films, and were particularly looking for a new face. She plays the love interest of Duddumpudi.
Filming
The film was formally launched in Hyderabad on 29 November 2015. Principal photography and regular filming began there on 30 November. Mohanlal gave dates for 25 days for filming. His portions were completed by January third week. The first schedule of filming was completed by the end of January.
Soundtrack
Film's soundtrack comprises five songs composed by Mahesh Shankar. The soundtrack album was released by Vel Records on 27 July 2016.
Release
The film was released on 5 August 2016 all over India by Maxlab Cinemas and Entertainments. Its television satellite right was purchased by Star India for an amount of ₹6.8 crore (US$1.0 million) for Vismayam and Manamantha for their channels Asianet and MAA TV respectively. Star India also agreed a contract for spending an additional ₹20 lakh (US$30,000) for the film's promotion and publicity works.
Box office
In the opening day, Vismayam collected a sum of ₹67.80 lakh (US$100,000) from Kerala box office with a net amount of ₹54.65 lakh (US$81,000). In three days run, it grossed ₹2.60 crore (US$390,000) with a net amount of ₹2.10 crore (US$310,000) and a share of ₹1.17 crore (US$170,000).