Prithviraj Sukumaran on pan-Indian appeal of his ‘small film’ Empuraan: ‘For the first half hour, it would feel like a Hindi film…’

Interestingly, the same Prithviraj who calls Empuraan ambitious also calls it a ‘small’ film at every opportunity. In fact, at the recent teaser launch, this became quite the hilarious gag with the likes of Mohanlal and Mammootty chipping in to milk it. However, Prithviraj has a clear idea on why he needs to push the film in such a way. “I understand the hype around Empuraan, and I am trying my best to maintain that it is just another mainstream film. I want the audience to only give it that much thought, and go with an open mind. Also, I don’t believe in sitting in interviews, and telling what the film is about. The audience decides what they see, and what they receive from the film. That determines everything,” said Prithviraj.

Talking about the constant chatter around Empuraan, which added to the hype train, Prithviraj also spoke about why some aspects of the film really warrant that kind of conversation. “I am notorious for preferring to shoot in real. In fact, when the producers heard the narration, they thought 80 % of the film would be shot in green screen because of the scale, the canvas, and the sequences. But then, I told them we have to go to these countries to shoot Empuraan. In fact, I stay away from CGI as much as I can. There are extensive CGI sequences, but I mostly like to shoot in real locations. In fact, be it the chopper scenes, the explosions, most of them are not VFX.” said Prithviraj.

Despite the scale of the film, the cast and crew, and the narrative, Empuraan was completed in 145 days, which was 28 days lesser than the originally planned schedule. “We shot it across a year from October 2023 to November 2024. We had to travel to different countries, factor in the schedules of various actors, etc… In fact, the only actor who told me he was readily available whenever I wanted him to be available was Mr Mohanlal.”

ALSO READ: Mohanlal calls Prithviraj Sukumaran ‘a very cruel director’, Mammootty praises him for making the ‘biggest small film’ Empuraan

Empuraan, which is the second part of the three-part Lucifer franchise, revolves around Stephen Nedumpally aka Kureshi Ab’ram. The film also stars a stellar lineup of actors including Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, Fazil, and Baiju Santhosh.