MUSCAT: Lucifer, the most anticipated movie of the year, starring Indian superstar Mohanlal, and directed by young superstar actor Prithviraj Sukumaran will hit cinemas across the globe on March 28.  The trailer of the movie has already garnered more than 4 million views on YouTube. 

Prithviraj who turns director for the first time in his career and trains his attention on Mohanlal, one of Malayalam cinema’s long-enduring idols. Ace actor and writer Murali Gopy has written ‘Lucifer’s’ screenplay. The movie also boasts Manju Warrier, one of Kerala’s beloved talents, Bollywood star Vivek Obroei and rising star Tovino Thomas, as a part of its star-studded line-up.

Advance booking begins
Tickets across cinemas in Oman are selling like hot-cakes soon after the movie was scheduled on Monday.

Speaking to The Arabian Stories, Robin Sebastian, a hard-core Mohanla-Prithviraj fan said: “Ever since Saturday, I was looking around for tickets to watch the first-day-first-show of Lucifer. Thankfully, I managed to get tickets to watch the movie on Thursday itself.” For Robin, is a highly anticipated one, as it will cement Prithviraj as the “next-gen” filmmaker. “We always knew Prithviraj will someday direct a movie himself and what a way to start with Lalettan (as Mohanlal is fondly called as). Looking at the trailer itself you can see Prithviraj’s creativity.”

Skipping work for Lucifer
Such is the frenzy surrounding the film that fans are planning to skip work to watch the first show on Thursday.  The first show is scheduled to begin at VOX Cinema in Ruwi at 2pm. “We can’t miss the FDFS and wait for reviews to watch Lalettan’s film. As Thursday is a working day for us, we have decided to skip half-day and instead go for Lucifer,” said Aravind, a hard-core Mohanlal fan.

The movie in Oman is distributed by Dubai-based Phars Films. “We had a star-studded promotion of Lucifer in Dubai last week. Thousands of fans of both the stars came to see Lalettan and Prithviraj. We are getting amazing response from all the theatres in GCC,” said Kuttu Sivanandan of Phars Films.

Mohanlal’s Lal Cares, are also planning special screenings for its fans in Muscat.

‘Lalettan is my heartbeat’
“Changalla, changidippanu Lalettan (He’s not our heart, but the heartbeat’),” said Manas Xavier, who never misses an opportunity to watch a Mohanlal film on the first day of its release. “This is one movie that we have high hopes on and how can I miss a Mohanlal-Prithviraj movie?” Manas asked.

Happy to work with Prithviraj, says Mohanlal
Meanwhile, at a press conference held recently in Dubai, Malayalam superstar Mohanlal said he agreed to do Lucifer under the direction of Prithviraj as he was able to see how passionate the actor-director was about filmmaking.

“This is my 40th year in the industry and I have done more than 350 films. Since I started understanding cinema better, I was able to identify people who love cinema. Even as I have not acted along with him, I have known Prithviraj since he was young. He is very passionate about films.” Mohanlal said.