DYK Mammootty rejected Suresh Gopi's hit action movie 'Ekalavyan'?

The 1993 action movie Ekalavyan is often credited as a pivotal movie in veteran Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi's career. The hit action movie made Suresh Gopi an overnight star and marked the birth of a new superstar in Mollywood. However, originally, director Shaji Kailas wanted actor Mammootty in the lead role. But after Mammootty rejected the movie, Suresh Gopi was roped in.

Mammootty rejected Ekalavyan

As per International Business Times, director Shaji Kailas and scriptwriter Renji Panicker had planned to cast Mammootty in the lead role. Suresh Gopi was also part of the original star cast, but his character was that of the second hero. But after reading the script, Mammootty told Shaji Kailas that he was not very impressed with the dialogues and dropped out of the film. A distressed Shaji Kailas chose to start the movie with Suresh Gopi in the lead, and the role that was originally planned for Suresh was later given to Siddique. However, the crime thriller smashed many collection records and made Suresh Gopi an overnight star and propelled his career forward. The movie also gave rise to the second action hero superstar ever in the Malayalam film industry after Jayan. The enormous success of Ekalavyan helped Suresh Gopi to get more action-oriented roles.

Ekalavyan trivia

1. The movie was also remade in Hindi as Singham Returns in 2014. The Hindi version of the movie featured Ajay Devgan in the lead role.

2. The movie was a commercial success and ran in theatres for almost 200 days.

 Mammootty's upcoming movies

The actor will next be seen in the gangster drama movie Bheeshma Parvam. The movie also features actors Soubin Shahir and Sreenath Bhasi in pivotal roles. The movie tells the story of Bheeshmavardhan, a dreaded gangster in the 1980s Kochi. While recently, the actor was seen in the political drama One. The cast along with Mammootty also featured Murali Gopy, Joju George, Siddique, Mathew Thomas, Ishaani Krishna, Gayatri Arun and Nimisha Sajayan in lead roles. The veteran actor was also seen in the supernatural horror mystery film The Priest featuring Manju Warrier, Nikhila Vimal, Sohan Seenulal, among others. 

IMAGE: MAMMOOTTY'S INSTAGRAM