The trailer starts with the flipping of the coin and opening a Koran. Marakkar is a wanted man but loved by the people of the land. At sea, he is a maverick, the bane of the Zamorin's enemy ships. We see quick shots of Suhasini, Keerthy Suresh, Arjun, Prabhu, Pranav Mohanlal, and Suniel Shetty. Marakkar says that the war against the Portuguese will be won at any cost. Near the end, we are shown Marakkar in contemplation, perhaps after a battle. The trailer ends with the coin coming to rest and the Koran closing perhaps suggesting that Marakkar's life was governed by chance and god.
At close to two minutes, the trailer never really tries to establish plot like the usual. Instead, it uses much of the time to introduce us to the star-cast giving us a hint at what kind of characters they're playing. Mohanlal, who gets a couple of rousing dialogues here, seems to be going back to the same North Kerala dialect he used in the director's Kilichundan Mambazham.
Apart from the major actors, the trailer also revealed a character played by a Chinese actor, perhaps as a tactic to make it easier for the film to release in the lucrative Chinese market, just as how Arjun and Prabhu works for the Kannada and Tamil market respectively, apart from Sunil Shetty who will make the film saleable in the Hindi belt.
What it also does is give us a fair idea of the visual quality of the film. Given the good to mixed reactions the teaser got, Marakkar's CGI department has stepped up the game several notches to give the grander scenes, especially set in the seas and on ships, the quality a spectacle deserves.
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham carries huge expectations. Priyadarshan and Mohanlal unite after Oppam, their huge 2016 hit, to make the costliest film in Malayalam cinema. Marakkar features an exciting (and huge) cast with Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh, Suniel Shetty, Arjun, Prabhu, Mukesh, Suhasini, and Ashok Selvan.
Written by Priyadarshan and Ani Sasi, and produced by Aashirvad Cinemas, the film is releasing on March 26.
The film's background score is by Ankit Suri, Lyell Evans Roeder and Rahul Raj with music by Ronnie Raphael.
Watch the trailer here: