Veeram was supposed to have Mohanlal in the lead?

Kunal Kapoor’s Veeram recently hit the theatres in Kerala with the actor portraying the lead role of Chandu Chekavar, the legendary folktale warrior of North Malabar. However, the movie’s director Jayaraj revealed in an interview that the first choice for the role was Mohanlal.
The director said that he had even sent a bound script to the superstar but received no reply from the star; and hence proceeded with choosing other actors for the movie.While Jayaraj had initially thought of casting a newcomer and had even auditioned close to 4000 actors for the role, he finally zeroed in on Kunal Kapoor as the protagonist.
The movie, which also has Divinaa Thackur, Himarsha Venkatsamy and Shivajith Nambiar in other pivotal roles, is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth with inspirations from the North Malabar ballad.