Priyadarshan’s 100th Film To Be With Mohanlal: 'Impossible To Not Have Action'

In a touching video posted on YouTube, director Priyadarshan shook hands with long-time colleague and best friend Mohanlal, announcing that his 100th film will feature the Malayalam superstar. It is being produced by Mohanlal’s Aashirvad Cinemas with Anthony Perumbavoor and Binu George Alexander as co-producers. In the four-minute video, we hear Priyadarshan say, “It’s not just a milestone because this is my 100th film and I’m doing it with you (Mohanlal), but this is a milestone because it is the first time in film history that the same director has made his first film and his 100th film with the hero.” It is a record that will never be broken, he added.

More details of the film are set to follow, and the video showed a montage of the different Priyadarshan movies Mohanlal had acted in their career spanning 45-plus years. Speaking about the film, the legendary director said, “It will be a very good entertainer with music and drama.” When Mohanlal stops him to ask if the film will have action, Priyan says, “It’s not possible to do a film with a star like Mohanlal without action anymore, so that’s surely a part of it.”

Mohanlal too had posted on X about this special collaboration. He wrote, “Some milestones do not belong to one person alone. They belong to everyone who stood closer enough to witness the journey. My dearest Priyan is stepping into his 100th film, and I find myself without words for what that truly means to me. A hundred films is not just a number. It is a lifetime of stories told with passion, countless mornings driven by the belief in the magic of cinema, and a journey of unwavering dedication that I have had the privilege of witnessing up close.”

In an interview with THR India, Priyadarshan, who had earlier indicated his retirement after completing his 100th film, expressed frustration over the growing number of people who crowd around actors on film sets. “I only get exhausted seeing the people around actors,” Priyadarshan, now 69, said. “On a floor, if I am working with three actors, I will see thirty people who are doing nothing and just standing around. I cannot see my visuals through the camera. They are blocking my view. I have never seen this in any other place than Bollywood,” he said.