Prithviraj Sukumaran reveals Pranav Mohanlal is young Stephen Nedumpally in L2 Empuraan

While the second part of the film, which hit the screens on March 27, revolves around Mohanlal’s Khureshi Ab’raam with very little prominence on his Stephen Nedumpally identity, it also features an extended origin story of Prithviraj Sukumaran’s Zayed Masood. At the end of Empuraan, there is also a glimpse into what will be the central plot of the final instalment of the Lucifer trilogy. If the first part sets up the political turmoil in the franchise’s world, the second part shows bits of that and what made Zayed join Stephen, and the third part will revolve around how a young guy in 1980s Bombay became the much-feared Stephen Nedumpally aka Khureshi Ab’raam.

In the movie, there is a stunt sequence that features a young Stephen punching and kicking his way through a bunch of henchmen, and leaving bloody carnage behind. While there were speculations that this Stephen, seen in silhouettes and carefully concealed angles that don’t quite reveal the face, was actually an AI-generated version of a younger Mohanlal, the actual answer has finally been revealed by the makers.

Prithviraj, who has remained silent about the ongoing controversy surrounding Empuraan, shared the information that the young Stephen was played by Pranav Mohanlal, and if all things go to plan, he would reprise the role in the proposed third part. Interestingly, there were many rumours about possible cameos from many top-tier stars from Indian cinema. Prithviraj and team Empuraan played the rumour mills to their advantage, and ended up delivering a googly out of nowhere.

Nevertheless, the news of Pranav joining the cast of the Lucifer franchise has increased the hype around the film, which seemed to be going through a largely dull phase despite minting money at the box office. This isn’t the first time Pranav is playing the younger version of Mohanlal. He played a similar role in Priyadarshan’s National award-winning film, Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham.

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Pranav is joining an already stellar cast that features the likes of Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, and Abhimanyu Singh. It will be interesting to see the kind of ensemble team Lucifer will bring together for the final instalment, which will undoubtedly be one of the most-expected and hyped franchises in Indian cinema.