Mohanlal’s Barroz is no more based on the original script

Mohanlal officially launched his directorial debut Barroz at a grand event held in Kochi in 2020, in the presence of Malayalam cinema’s biggest celebrities. The superstar immediately started shooting for his dream project with some of the most sought-after talents in its cast and crew. However, the pandemic and lockdown caused multiple delays in the project, which was originally supposed to hit the screens in December 2020. Now, Jijo Punnoose, the writer of Barroz, has made some major revelations regarding the revised script and star cast of Mohanlal’s film.

In his recent blog post, writer Jijo Punnoose revealed that Mohanlal’s Barroz has undergone some major changes in both its script and star cast. The senior scenarist also announced that he is no more a part of the much-awaited fantasy film. According to Jijo, Mohanlal was not in the picture when he decided to develop a fantasy film based on a teenage girl and the ghost who guards a treasure. It was director TK Rajeev Kumar, who suggested that the superstar should play the ghost in the film. Later Mohanlal also decided to take up the director’s role and Jijo was assigned to assist him.

Even though the script was rewritten about 22 times according to the liking of Mohanlal and the makers, writer Jijo was clear that the girl is the protagonist of the film, not the ghost. Mohanlal also agreed with this opinion and decided to underplay as an actor and concentrate on his new role as a filmmaker. But after Barroz got delayed due to the pandemic, both the story and the initial star cast were changed. The entire star cast including lead actress Shayala McFree and Prithviraj Sukumaran who were playing supporting roles were changed and the focus of the story was shifted to the ghost.

“Mohanlal, in the process of re-writing, fashioned the script and the character of Barroz much like his recent hits Odiyan, Pulimurugan, Lucifer, and Marakkar, to satisfy his fan base. I could understand that with the changed screenplay, the focus of the film was to entertain the Malayalee family film audience. Mohanlal could do it with his knowledge of 350 films, as against my mere 7. In this restructuring, Rajeev took over my role in assisting him,” reads Jijo Punnoose’s blog post.

Mohanlal’s dream project is currently in the final stages of its post-production. If the latest reports are to be believed, the official trailer of Barroz will get a theatrical release along with the upcoming James Cameron directorial Avatar: The Way of Water. However, Mohanlal and his team have not officially confirmed these reports, yet.