Mohanlal's Ittymaani, Nivin Pauly's Love Action Drama, Prithviraj's Brothers Day head for crowded Onam weekend

Traditionally, Onam is the biggest festival in Kerala and one of the best seasons to release Malayalam films. Onam falls this year on 11 September (Wednesday), bang in the middle of the week, so films will hit the screens on 6 September to get advantage of the extended weekend, or will release on the day of Onam, or the next day. The Kerala distributors association does not prefer the Onam day release as people normally sit at home after a sumptuous lunch and watch latest films telecast on the auspicious day. Normally, three or four big star films used to release for Onam but this year, half a dozen are hitting the screens. They are Mohanlal’s  Ittymaani: Made In China, Nivin Pauly’s Love Action Drama, Prithviraj’s Brothers Day, Tovino Thomas’s  Kilometers and Kilometers, Rajeesha Vijayan’s Finals, and  Vinayan’s film with newcomers  Akasha, Ganga 2 . And finding screens for all these new releases is turning out to be a programming nightmare for theatres across Kerala. Plus, they will have to continue the second week run of Prabhas-starrer   _Saaho _ and Suriya’s Kaappaan, both scheduled to release on 30 August. Here is a list of the 2019 Onam releases and their USP Ittymaani: Made In China     Genre – Family entertainer Cast – Mohanlal, Honey Rose, Raadhika, Salim Kumar, Aju Vargheese. Director – Jibu and Joju Producer – Antony Perumbavoor [caption id=“attachment_5585131” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Mohanlal. Image from Twitter[/caption] USP – Mohanlal and his larger than life image, he plays a dual role as father and son. The film was shot in China for a week where the father’s character (a Chinese martial arts exponent) portion was shot.  The son speaks in Thrissur slang.  Mohanlal’s larger-than-life image, and a dual role as father and son. It is also the first Malayalam film to be shot in China. Love Action Drama       Genre – Romantic Comedy Cast – Nivin Pauly, Nayanthara, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Aju Vargheese. Director – Dhyan Sreenivasan Producers – Aju Varghese and Visakh Subramaniam USP – Nivin Pauly and South India’s leading heroine Nayanthara coming together for the first time. Actor Dhyan Sreenivasan, son of legendary writer and actor Sreenivasan and younger brother of Vineeth Sreenivasan, debuting as director.  Nivin Pauly needs to rework his image as a romantic hero in this film, said to be a modern day adaptation of director Dhyan’s father Sreenivasan’s 1989 classic Vadakkunokkiyanthram . Brothers Day      Genre: Action Entertainer Cast : Prithviraj, Aishwarya Lakshmi, Pragya Rose Martin, Miya George, Aima Director: Kalabhavan Shajohn Producer: Listin Stephen USP –  Prithviraj doing an action comedy after a long period, and his exciting pairing with the four heroines. It is also the debut film of character actor and comedian Shajohn as director. Kilometres And Kilometres      Genre – Road Movie Cast – Tovino Thomas Director – Jeo Baby Producers – Tovino Thomas, Ramshi USP – It is Tovino’s first road film, and has been shot in exotic locations in the North-East. Tovino said the script excited him so much that he decided to be one of the producers of the film. The star cast has been kept under the wraps, though there are rumours that it is a heroine-less film.  Tovino Thomas is riding a wave and is currently red hot especially among the youth. Finals                                        Genre: Sports film Cast: Rajisha Vijayan, Suraj Venjaranmoodu, Niranj, Tini Tom Director: PR Arun Producer: Manianpillai Raju USP – Rajisha Vijayan is one of the fastest rising heroines in Malayalam. Her performance in her last release June got critical acclaim. In Finals, which is sports-based film, she plays a cyclist.  A female sports-based movie is a rarity, and that too about a cyclist preparing for the Olympics! And wink girl Priya Prakash Varrier has sung a song in the film, which has gone viral. Akasha Ganga 2                         Genre: Horror Cast:  Ramya Krishnan, Siddique, Sreenath Bhasi, Vishnu Vinay Director: Vinayan Producer: Vinayan USP: Veteran director Vinayan’s 1999 horror thriller Akasha Ganga was a super-hit. Twenty years later, he is making a sequel to it with lots of VFX and special effects, cashing in on the craze for the horror film genre in Kerala. A horror film in Malayalam is releasing after a long gap. All images from Twitter.