Prithviraj Sukumaran, Mohanlal, writer Murali Gopy, and team Lucifer presented the teaser of their much-anticipated sequel Empuraan at an event held at Kochi that saw the attendance of most of Malayalam cinema's eminent personalities, including Mammootty, directors Sathyan Anthikad and Joshiy, among others.
The teaser, which showed some footage from Empuraan interspersed with some dialogues from Lucifer, hints at a much bigger scale and story that explores the idea of a mercenary team headed by Mohanlal's Stephen Nedumbally aka Qureshi Ab'raam, more political developments involving Tovino Thomas' character, epic spectacle and, of course, the return of Prithviraj's character Zayed Masood and the rest of the principal characters from the first film, including Manju Warrier.
At the event, Prithviraj dispelled the general notion that his primary filmmaking influences are Hollywood blockbusters, given the scope and scale of Lucifer and Empuraan and the locations they are shot in. "I've been brought up on Malayalam cinema. It's filmmakers like Joshiy, Shaji (Kailas) ettan, Sathyan (Anthikad) sir, and Sibi (Malayil) sir that inspired me," he said.
Prithviraj recounted the numerous challenges they faced while shooting the film, mostly on account of the weather, beginning with their first schedule in Leh Ladakh to the very last in Palakkad, aside from the weather challenges in different countries. "Every country, every place... we had run-ins with the weather. So what happens is obviously a lot of money goes to waste — when a big crew is unable to work — and a lot of time goes to waste."
Prithviraj remembers calling Mohanlal to shoot the Gujarat schedule to shoot the climax portions while the latter was busy with multiple projects, but Mohanlal remained patient throughout. "He had to sit there for a long while without shooting. I used to get concerned because he had a lot of other films to shoot. On the 5th or 6th day, I told him, 'Sorry, today also shooting won't happen,' and he said, 'That's fine, son. You only need to think about doing it well.' It was not just a memory for me as a filmmaker but a lesson as an actor."
As for the franchise potential of these stories, the actor-director called Empuraan a "very ambitious" film, and they didn't think of doing a second one when he discussed Lucifer with scriptwriter Murali Gopy. "When we discussed the idea of Lucifer, we knew we couldn't tell this story in one film. Back then, this 'Part 1', 'Part 2' thing wasn't fashionable — people used to frown at the idea. We decided there was no point in talking about Part 2 back then because Part 1 had to run well first. Empuraan happened only because of the positive reception to Lucifer."
Prithviraj and Murali Gopy had earlier confirmed that Empuraan would be the second in a trilogy. "We made Part 1 as a standalone film, but with Part 2, it was very evident that the story would be incomplete without Part 3, that I have to say, that it ends with the viewer curious to know what happens next," said Prithviraj.
