Malayalam superstar Prithviraj Sukumaran‘s fans were in for a disappointment yesterday when the actor released an official note regarding the postponement of the release of his much awaited upcoming action drama ‘Kaduva’. Not only did this let his fans down but also hit the Kerala box-office, for it was eyeing for an urgent revival. Kaduva was earlier scheduled to release on June 30th but got pushed by a week to July 7th, 2022 as for now.
The film is set in late 1990s and revolves around an influential young rubber planter from Mundakayam named Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan, and his fight with DIG Joseph Chandy IPS that ensue a string of chaos in the lives of both parties. Kaduva is written by Jinu V Abraham and is supposedly a fictionalized version of a true story.
Prithviraj’s official press note on his Twitter account read : “Bigger the dreams, larger the obstacles. Stronger the enemies, harder the fight! Kaduva release has been postponed by one week to 07/07/2022 due to unforeseen circumstances. We will continue with all promotional activities as scheduled and keep faith in all your love and support for this mass action entertainer. We deeply apologise to all the fans, distributors and theatre owners across the world.”
Although the makers haven’t made the reason behind the delay clear in the press note and just dropped in a vague reasoning of ‘unforeseen circumstances’, sources reveal that apparently the censoring of the film got delayed due to legal shackles. There were multiple litigations against the film since its inception. Of which one of the most prominent litigations came from Jose Kuruvinakunnel who claimed the film is unofficially based on his life. In 2001, Kailas was supposed to direct a film titled Vyaghram (translated to Tiger) based on the life of Jose Kuruvinakunnel, written by Renji Panickar starring Mohanlal whose character was also named ‘Kaduvakunnel Karuvachan’. That story was also about a legal battle between Kuruvachan and a high-ranking police officer. But the film eventually didn’t materialise. With all the true story claims running around Kaduva and similarities in the premises, Jose expressed doubt if the film is indeed based on his story and that he had only merely given verbal consent 20 years ago to Renji Panickar. Even though Shaji Kailas clarified that it was Jinu V Abraham who came to him with an original screenplay for Kaduva read by himself and Prithviraj only and is not based on Kuruvinakunnel’s life, the matter reached court. According to Prithviraj’s own words in a recent interview, the cause of postponement is a censoring delay. And It seems like Censor board has delayed giving the stamp of approval for the film because of the litigation surrounding the film.
This Shaji Kailas directorial stars Vivek Oberoi and Samyuktha Menon in main roles alongside Prithviraj Sukumaran. Kaduva is jointly produced by Supriya Menon of Prithviraj Productions and Listin Stephen of Magic Frames with the latter also distributing the film. Jakes Bejoy composes the background score and original songs of the film. We hope the legal shackles are solved soon and the film releases without any more hindrances.