After a five year hiatus, actor Bhavana is all set to return to Malayalam cinema. She will next be seen alongside actor Sharafudheen in Adhil Maimoonath Asharaf’s directorial debut Ntikkakkakkoru Premondaarnn, the title poster of which was unveiled by megastar Mammootty on his Facebook page on Wednesday, March 16. Sharing the announcement, Bhavana wrote on Instagram: “Rolling soon - Ntikkakkakkoru Premondarnn featuring @bhavzmenon and @sharaf_u_dheen.”
Bankrolled by Renish Abdulkhader under the banner of Bonhomie Entertainments, Ntikkakkakkoru Premondaarnn’s cinematography and art direction will be handled by Arun Rushdie and Anees Nadodi respectively. Director Adhil will also double as the scriptwriter and editor of the film. The dialogues are written by Vivek Bharathan, who has also worked on the film’s screenplay. Paul Mathews, Nishant Ramteke and Joker Blues. Have been roped in for music. Vinayak Sasikumar has penned the lyrics.
Bhavana’s last Malayalam film was Adam Joan (2017), written and directed by Jinu Abraham and featured actors Prithviraj Sukumaran, Mishti, Narain and Rahul Madhav in pivotal roles. Since 2017, the actor has signed Kannada movies including Tagaru, 99 and Bhajarangi 2 among others, but has hesitated to take on a Malayalam project.
A survivor of the highly sensationalised 2017 sexual assault case, Bhavana had refrained from speaking about the traumatic incident until January 2022, when she revealed her identity through an Instagram post. “This has not been an easy journey. The journey from being a victim to becoming a survivor. For 5 years now, my name and my identity have been suppressed under the weight of the assault inflicted on me,” she wrote. She also noted that she was speaking up after others lent their voices of support and knowing that she was not alone in this fight for justice.
Speaking about why she decided not to sign Malayalam scripts after 2017 in an interview with TNM, Bhavana said, “After 2017, I wanted to stay away from Malayalam cinema, but many of my colleagues and friends encouraged me not to. Prithviraj, directors Jinu Abraham and Shaji Kailas approached me for a project they were doing jointly, actor Baburaj came to my place in Bengaluru and told me to come out of this shell. Anoop Menon even offered to shoot his movie in Bengaluru so I could be a part of it. Aashiq Abu offered me two projects and told me that I need to come back to Malayalam cinema.”
She further explained, “I actually don’t know why I wanted to stay away, I cannot define or pinpoint that feeling. I felt that I was away from Kerala, living a peaceful life in Bengaluru. I felt going back on the sets will start new discussions,” while adding that coming back to Malayalam cinema was a difficult decision to make. “Initially I was not in the right frame of mind and I did not want to continue working here as if nothing went wrong," she said.