Reports doing rounds in tinsel town suggest that Mammootty may be seen playing a gangster after a gap. He had of course played the lead in the Aashiq Abu film Gangster.

Sources in the know say that director Vinod Vijayan is likely to wield the megaphone for the new project that will be scripted by Haneef Adeni. However, there is no official word on it yet as Haneef Adeni needs to concentrate on his upcoming film Mikhael, which has Nivin Pauly in the lead.

Confirming about being a part of Mikhael, Nivin Pauly had posted on Twitter much earlier: “Super excited to announce my next project with one of the most stylish filmmaker #HaneefAdeni!! Titled #Mikhael, the film will be produced by my dearest #AntoJoseph! Rolling soon!” The film will be directed by Haneef Adeni and bankrolled by Joseph Anto under his banner Anto Joseph Film Company. Manjima Mohan has been roped in to play the female lead in this flick.

So, Haneef Adeni is expected to be busy for the next few months.

On the other hand, Mammootty is busy with a slew of projects on hands including the Telugu flick Yathra, a biopic on the late chief minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Rajasekar Reddy. It is slated for release later this year. The film is bankrolled by Vijay Chilla and Shashi Devireddy under the banner 70 MM Pictures and directed by Mahi V Raghav. The biopic will clearly detail out the struggles that YSR underwent in his political life and the padhayatra he undertook which eventually led him to the CM’s chair. On roping in Mammootty for the role, director Mahu V Raghav had told in an interview earlier that he needed “someone who can get in that aura of a leader who we can look up to” and the star fitted the bill perfectly.

Mammootty also has a number of Malayalam movies in different stages of production lined up for release, including Peranbu (premiered), Madura Raja and Mamankkam.

(Content provided by Digital Native)