Mammootty to play Kunjali Marakkar IV in Santhosh Sivan’s next

Seems like Mollywood bigwigs are vying with each other to come up with the biggest and most effective portrayal of 16th century Zamorin naval commanders — the Kunjali Marakkars.

A day after Priyadarshan had exclusively told us that his next project with Mohanlal would be a mega budget film about Kunjali Marakkar, we got to know that Mammootty too would be playing one in Santhosh Sivan's next Malayalam directorial.
The film has been titled Kunjali Marakkar IV with Mammootty playing Mohammed Ali, the final naval chieftain. “Kunjali Marakkar IV was the most interesting among the four and that’s why we decided to do the film on him,” says Santhosh Sivan.

The last naval chief had challenged the Zamorins, whom he had sworn to protect in 1595. The Zamorins then joined hands with the Portuguese to quell his rebellion. While Kunjali Marakkar IV and his forces thwarted their first attempt, the allies finally captured and executed him.
Santhosh says, “It’s a huge project and we have already started work on it. It will have a huge star cast too and we are currently planning to begin filming by April next year."

The movie is scripted by TP Rajeevan and Shankar Ramakrishnan. Meanwhile, Mammootty is also part of another big budget period film next year titled Maamaankam.