Mamootty plays cop 25th time in as many years

Kochi, Sep 6 (IANS) It was his role as a police officer that made him a Malayalam film superstar. And now Mammootty is all set to don the cop's uniform for the 25th time in an acting career spanning more than 25 years.

For this role, Mammootty is joining hands with filmmaker Renji Panicker. Shooting for the film began Wednesday.

'I have heard only a bit of the story for the yet-to-be-titled film by Panicker and, of course, I have complete faith in him because it is his own script and is to be directed by him,' Mammootty told IANS.

He has every reason to be happy with the new film because it was the role of a police officer in the movie 'Yavanika' in the early 1980s that propelled his career to newer heights.

Since then he has had no reason to worry about the success of a film in which he donned the khaki uniform.

Panicker told IANS: 'Mammootty plays the role of a middle level police officer investigating a crime.'

The paper work for the film, which is slated for an early November release, is still not complete. 'I shoot and write because I feel more comfortable that way and this is a film focusing on recent political events in Kerala,' Panicker said.

He had earlier scripted two hugely successful films starring Mammootty - 'The King' and 'Dubai'.

The new film will be produced by Marikar Films, whose recent productions - 'Big B' starring Mammootty and 'Hello' starring Mohanlal - have done well at the box office.

Panicker's lucid writing skills have been credited for the success of many Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi films.

This film will be Panicker's second as a director and his 14th as a scriptwriter.

'The heroine of the film is a new face who is 23 years old and we are finalising her new name,' added Panicker.

Other cast members include Lalu Alex, Saikumar, Vijayaraghavan and several regulars in the industry. Sanjiv Sankar will handle the camera.