Nivin trains in Kalaripayattu to play Kayamkulam Kochunni

From 'Notebook' to 'School Bus', films showcasing the travails of the common man has always been the favourite for M-Town's much-loved trio ' filmmaker Rosshan Andrrews, and scriptwriters Bobby and Sanjay.
In their next project, they are treading a different path, and the team has roped in actor Nivin Pauly for their novel attempt. Titled 'Kayamkulam Kochunni', with the tagline 'The Most Dangerous Man', the film will be about the legendary thief of Kerala.
Rosshan says, 'We are planning to start the shoot by early next year in Sri Lanka, and one of its villages will be fashioned as Kayamkulam.The film will be an out-and-out thriller, but will also have an interesting love story and some strong elements of adventure as part of it. Nivin plays Kayamkulam Kochunni and has already started training in Kalaripayattu to play the role. He is now in Spain, and once he is back, we will also be finalising details of his looks. We chose him to play the lead because his body language and looks can seamlessly fit into both, the age-old and current timelines.' The team is also planning to release the movie in Tamil.
While the story of the smart thief was portrayed on the big and small screens in Malayalam before, the new film will have a lot more thrilling elements, the director says. 'Our story is about how a simple man turns into the 'most dangerous man'. While there have been many hearsay stories about him that have been handed down through generations, they have many loose ends. It is known that he was a lot into charity, and that he was married. But what kind of a lover was he? What made him the person he turned out to be? Not many know about it. We will be focusing on all of these elements.'
The director also says that the subject will be presented in a way the current generation can connect to. He says, 'Bobby and Sanjay scripted the film after studying it alongside researchers for about two years. It is set in a time when electricity and even the practice of letter writing did not exist. We have gone deeply into aspects like the costumes, the kinds of conversations, language script, barter system and properties used during the time, to incorporate them right into the movie.'
The team has also roped in a few other biggies for the project, including 'Kabali' fame Santhosh Narayanan on music and a team from South Africa for the action sequences. Rosshan, Sanjay and Bobby also have three other projects coming up, two of which are with Fahadh Faasil and another with Nivin Pauly again. 'The Nivin project has a sea-based topic and Fahadh's would be a campus film and an investigative thriller,' he reveals.