Prithviraj Sukumaran, who is gearing up for the release of his much-awaited directorial venture ‘L2: Empuraan‘ on March 27, recently shared an interesting revelation about his directorial film ‘Bro Daddy‘. He revealed that his first choice for the comedy-drama was not Mohanlal but Mammootty.
In a conversation with Galatta Plus, Prithviraj stated that he initially narrated the script to Mammootty and wanted to bring out the actor’s Kottayam Kunjachan side in the film. “I pitched Bro Daddy to Mammukka (Mammootty) first. I wanted Mammootty sir to play John Kattadi, and it wasn’t the same John you see today. My initial concept for the film was a very Kottayam Kunjachan-like character—a rich but very earthy Christian family man,” he said.
However, Mammootty had already committed to some recent projects at the time and asked Prithviraj to put the film on hold for a while. “I thought it would be really cute to see Mammukka portray this lovestruck husband, head over heels in love with his wife. Of late, nobody really associates Mammootty sir with such a character. I pitched it to Mammukka; he liked the script but wasn’t able to take it up as an immediate project,” he added.
Prithviraj also revealed that Mammootty had suggested waiting to collaborate on the project at a later time. However, given the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, Prithviraj felt that ‘Bro Daddy’ was the right film to direct during that period due to its limited cast and contained setting.
Additionally, he mentioned that if he were to work with Mammootty after the restrictions were lifted, he would prefer to helm a larger-scale project rather than a lighthearted film like ‘Bro Daddy’.
He further added that Mohanlal was aware that Prithviraj had first approached Mammootty with the script but had taken a completely different approach to the movie. If Mammootty had been cast, the ‘Salaar’ actor would have made it a film about two families—one urban and one rural—unlike the polished original ‘Bro Daddy’.
The 2022 film ‘Bro Daddy’, directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran, featured Meena, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Lalu Alex, Kaniha, and Jagadish in key roles, alongside Prithviraj and Mohanlal, who played a father-son duo.
