'India's first mud race movie' Muddy takes us down new roads

The teaser of

Muddy

, which was released recently, garnered nearly 9 million views in a day. The film, touted as ‘India’s first off-road mud race movie’, is directed by

Dr Pragabhal

and boasts technicians who have worked on huge projects, such as KGF, in south India. It is set to release in May.

Saying how thrilled he has been with the response, the newbie writer-director says, “We are looking forward to releasing in theatres, because we have prepared a visual treat for youth and family audiences. We have put a lot of effort into it; the pre and production took a couple of years.”

Muddy, a family and revenge drama, has three mud races with ‘one of a kind’ modified 4x4s used by main characters. Pragabhal says that it was his passion for off-roading and vehicles that pushed him to make the movie, which was shot in the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border in Idukki. “I have travelled all over the country watching mud races and while I was always keen on making an adventure movie, I decided why not do it on mud races. Apparently, a movie on the subject has not been done before in the country because it comes with a lot of risks,” says the director, who has a PhD in marketing.

Pragabhal was also not keen to use stunt doubles, to keep the authenticity of the action sequences, and found it difficult to sign on established stars. He was almost set to give up the venture when his brothers Yuvan and Ridhaan Krishna, who work at the family engineering business and are also passionate about mud racing, said they were willing to take it on.

The film features Renji Panicket, IM Vijayan and Bineesh Bastin among others.