Actor Vinayakan will be seen in two avatars in Thottappan, directed by Shanavas K Bavakkutty. The director told Silverscreen.in that Vinayakan appears in two get-ups, as a young man in a flashback sequence, and, later, as a man in his fifties.
“Thottappan takes place in a fictional island cut off from the mainland. It is based on a short story by writer Francis Nerona, published by DC Books. But the film’s screenplay has taken liberal deviations from the source material,” said Bavakutty. “It explores the themes of love and friendship. I would call it a romantic thriller, although it is a mix of genres. It is centred on a man who becomes a guardian to a girl he is not related to. It might seem complicated to the outside world, and it is their relationship we are trying to explore through Thottappan. Among Christians in Kerala, the word Thottappan means godfather – someone who has the stature of a birth father.”
The film has an interesting cast, headlined by Vinayakan, who won a State Award for Best Actor in 2017 for his performance in Kammattipadam. Veteran writer and scenarist Raghunath Paleri makes his acting debut in a pivotal role in the film. Among the supporting cast are Roshan Mathew, Priyamvada, Lal and Dileesh Pothan.
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Bavakkutty, a former politician who served as the municipal counsellor of Ponnani for around 10 years, made his directorial debut in 2016 through Kismath, a tragic romance. The film, starring Shane Nigam and Shruthi Menon, narrated a tragic love story between a Muslim man and a Hindu woman in Ponnani. The film was co-produced by Rajeev Ravi’s Collective Phase One, and distributed by Lal Jose.
The director isn’t sure if Thottappan fits a label. “It isn’t conclusively mainstream or off-beat in nature. I make films that I like to watch,” he says. Thottappan, is preparing for an Eid 2019 release.