The shooting of actor Prithviraj’s upcoming film Kaduva has been temporarily suspended. Director Shaji Kailas on Tuesday took to social media to inform that the production of the film has been put on hold in view of growing cases of the coronavirus.“We are temporarily suspending the shooting of ‘Kaduva, to show solidarity the government’s efforts to contain the Covid-19. We will resume shooting when the situation becomes a little better. Stay safe, stay healthy (sic),” said Shaji Kailas in his Facebook post. Kaduva is billed as a full-fledged mass action entertainer. It is said that the upcoming film is set in the 90s and the story is partially inspired by a real-life incident. Kaduva will mark Prithviraj’s second collaboration with Shaji Kailas after Simhasanam, which came out in 2012. The director’s last Malayalam film was Ginger, starring Jayaram in the lead.
Kaduva is being scripted by filmmaker Jinu Abraham, who directed Prithviraj in Adam John (2017) and wrote the actor’s London Bridge (2014). According to reports, it was based on Prithviraj’s recommendation that Jinu approached Shaji to direct the film. The film was shrouded in controversy after, Pala based Jose Kuruvinakunnel came up with allegations stating that the film was based on his life and added that he has not sold the rights to anyone to make a movie with his life’s events as inspirations for the plot. Clearing the air, director Shaji Kailas stated that the story of Kaduva is totally different. He was quoted as saying by The Times Of India, “I know Jose and it’s true that Renji and I had planned a film based on his life. But Kaduva’s script is an entirely different subject. Kaduva is a story of a young planter with no connection whatsoever to Jose. People are creating controversies because they don’t know what the content is; only Prithvi and I have read the entire script” For the unversed, Jose alleged that Kaduva is based on his life. It is to be noted that director Shaji Kailas had announced a movie with the same concept 20 years ago with Mohanlal in the lead and script by Renji Panicker. Other than this, the film also made the headlines recently after the scriptwriter Jinu filed a case against the makers of Suresh Gopi’s 250th film alleging that they have plagiarised his script. The Kerala High Court had even issued a stay ordered on the shooting and promotions of Suresh Gopi’s film.