Festival time for Malayalam film industry

Four films in Malayalam lined up for this year's Vishu season. Though schedules get changed quite frequently, here is a look at the four, aimed at family audiences during the summer Vishu vacation.

Mayamohini

Dirrector: Jose Thomas

Cast: Dileep, Biju Menon, Lakshmi Rai, Mythili

Dileep plays Biju Menon's 'wife' in Mayamohini, which releases this weekend. The film has been scripted by Siby K Thomas- Udayakrishna and is directed by Jose Thomas.

Dileep has experimented with his looks in the past as well in Kunjikkoonan, Chanthupottu, Chakkaramuthu and Pachakkuthira, among others. His portrayal of a woman has generated tremendous interest and Mayamohini is regarded as a sure-shot hit, especially after the video of the film's songs was well received.

Dileep, who is not really going through the best period in his career with the failure of recent films Vellaripravinte Changathi and Spanish Masala, is eagerly waiting for a success.

Lakshmi Rai and Mythili play the female leads, while the hottest comedians in the business, Biju Menon and Baburaj, are in the cast.

Mayamohini has been produced under the banner of Colour Factory. Anil Nair is behind the camera. The music has been composed by Berny-Ignatius.

Director: Lal

Cast: Mammootty, Lal, Padmapriya, Kaniha

Mammootty plays Raja and Lal is Kari in Cobra. The two are brothers and very fond of each other. But their relatives believe that in a terrorist attack on the hospital in Kuala Lumpur on the day they were born, the babies got interchanged, and that is why they look so different.

The two prefer to stay in places that have names starting with 'Co', like Coimbatore, Kottayam, Kochi and so on.

Cobra, written and directed by Lal, is believed to be moulded like Mammootty and Lal's hit of yesteryears, Thommanum Makkalum.

Padmapriya and Kaniha play the female leads. They too are siblings and the two brothers want to marry them so that they can retain their 'co' tag, as co-brothers!

Cobra is being produced under the banner of Emperor Cinema by Anto Joseph. The cinematographer is Venu and the music director is Alex Paul.

Director: Aashiq Abu

Cast: Rima Kallingal, Fahadh Fasil

Aashiq Abu shot to fame as a hotshot director after the huge success of Salt N' Pepper. He directs a rather serious film this time, about a nursing student named Tessa Abraham, who falls for a young man, and that changes her life.

22 Female Kottayam targets urban audiences and the promotions of the film have been going on, on various social networking sites in a big way.

Rima Kallingal, who was good in the recent Nidra, is expected to carry the film on her shoulders. At a time when female-oriented roles are a rarity, this one is expected to create an impression.

Produced by O G Sunil, the film has cinematography by Shyju Khaled and music by Rex Vijayan (of Aviyal) and Biji Bal.

Director: M Padmakumar

Cast: Jayaram, Haripriya

As the scion of a wealthy family and lover of elephants, Jayaram plays the title role of Thamban in director M Padmakumar's Thiruvambady Thamban.

Haripriya plays Anjali, who belongs to a different religion but is romantically involved with Thamban.

Scripted by S Suresh Babu, Thiruvambady Thambanis produced under the banner of Jini Cinema by Alexander John. The cinematographer is Manoj Pillai and the music director is Ouseppachan.

Jagathy Sreekumar plays an important role in the film. Changes had to be made in his character in the film after he met with a serious accident on his way back from the sets of Thiruvambady Thamban, which left him bed-ridden for a while.