On the eve of his 74th birthday, Malayalam megastar Mammootty’s long-delayed film with director Nithish Sahadev finally gets a title: Mela. Produced by Mammootty Kampany, the action-comedy set on the Kerala–Tamil Nadu border reunites the star with a title from his early career, while promising fresh genre elements, new music by Vishnu Vijay and visuals by Jimshi Khalid.
Malayalam megastar Mammootty’s long-delayed film with director Nithish Sahadev finally got a title on the eve of the actor’s 74th birthday, which falls on the 7th of September. The film, which is produced by the star’s banner Mammootty Kampany, will now be called Mela. A poster of the new film was also released along with the title.
This was the film that the star was expected to complete right after finishing his portions in Patriot. The film needed to be pushed by several months due to Mammootty’s short sabbatical from cinema owing to health reasons. The director, who had made Falimy in Malayalam with Basil Joseph, then went on to do a film in Tamil—the Jiiva starrer Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimayil. Both films were in the comedy genre and went on to become superhits.
The proposed film with Mammootty is said to be an action comedy set in the Kerala-TN border. Speaking at a press conference in Kerala, the director of the 2023 hit comedy Falimy opened up about the project. When asked about the film's status and how Mammootty came on board, he said, “He (Mammootty) liked the story. After hearing our first narration, he soon asked for another sitting to discuss the film in detail. Within the genre, we are trying to do a few new things with it. And I’m guessing it will be different. It’s going to be an action entertainer.”
Interestingly, ‘Mela’ was the title of a 1980 film in which Mammootty first played a prominent role. It was directed by master filmmaker KG George, and Mammootty spoke at length about how his first major paycheque from cinema (of ₹500) was given to him by actor Sreenivasan for acting in this film.
The new film will be shot by Jimshi Khalid who most recently shot Dulquer’s I’m Game. It is written by Nithish Sahadev along with Anuraj DB. Vishnu Vijay will handle the music for the film.