Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, directed by Priyadarshan, is a grand epic about a war that is set against Kunjali Marakkar. While some call him a warrior, others wonder if all he will be remembered as will be a traitor.
The trailer shows a huge battalion of 6000 Portuguese soldiers who have come for the head of Kunjali Marakkar. Another Indian voice promises that by the next lunar month, he will be captured. As many wonder whether a self-respecting warrior is really in the wrong, people have divided loyalties. He might have to fight not just the war of the land but also one to win people's trust. A montage leads up to Marakkar finally driving a knife through a soldier. This probably defines his win in the end.
The film will be released in five languages – Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi. Four songs titled 'Kunju Kunjali, 'Kannil Ente', 'Chembinte Chellula' and 'Ilaveyil' are out, over the last few months. The lyrics are penned by B.K.Harinarayan, Priyadarshan, Shafi Kollam and Prabha Varma in Malayalam, R.P.Bala in Tamil, Vennelakanti in Telugu, Aniruddha Sastry and Vaibhav M in Kannada and Nawab Arzoo and Ishtiaq Feroz in Hindi. All the songs were composed by Ronnie Raphael.
Director Priyadarshan and Mohanlal are working together again after their 2016 hit, Oppam. The film has an ensemble cast with Manju Warrier, Keerthy Suresh, Suniel Shetty, Arjun Sarja, Prabhu, Nedumudi Venu, Pranav Mohanlal, Mukesh, Suhasini, Innocent, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Ashok Selvan and others.
Screenplay is written by Priyadarshan and Ani I V Sasi. The film's original background score is by Ankit Suri, Lyell Evans Roeder and Rahul Raj. The grand production is designed by Sabu Cyril. Visual effects is supervised by Siddharth Priyadarshan, cinematography is handled by S.Thiru and editing by M.S.Aiyyappan Nair. It is produced by Antony Perumbavoor under the banner of Aashirvad Cinemas.
The film has bagged the Best Feature Film, Best Costume Design and Best Special Effects awards at the 67th National Film Awards and Best Dubbing Artist, Best Choreography and Special Jury Award (Visual Effects) at the 50th Kerala State Awards.
After a back and forth between an OTT and a theatrical release and delays, owing to the pandemic, Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham is set to release in theaters on December 2.