Sunny Leone sits coyly next to Mammootty on a couch, surrounded by men, in what appears to be a shot from an item song in the movie Madura Raja. The picture has gone viral, triggering shares, comments, trolling memes and jokes.

This will be the first time that Sunny is seen in a Malayalam film. Sunny, a former adult star, is also working on another multilingual called Veeramadevi, which will mark her debut in Malayalam, and another Malayalam movie called Rangeela.

Madura Raja, an action entertainer, is directed by Vysakh. He has scripted the film in association with Uday Krishna. The film is a sequel to Mammootty’s and Prithviraj’s 2010 film Pokkiri Raja. The latter is expected to be seen in a cameo in the sequel. The first look poster had recently been released, with Mammootty wearing a white dhoti and shirt and wielding a weapon.

Actor Aju Varghese who posted the picture on his Facebook page with the comment ‘Akka with Ikka’ (sister with brother) had to take it down later when the comments mocking both Sunny and Mammootty and especially anti-women slurs became too many.

Aju had also posted the picture on Instagram. The trolling is surprising since Sunny Leone’s visit to Kochi two years ago had brought to the spot an incredibly large number of fans, blocking roads and traffic for hours. 

While Tamil actor Jai will be seen in a prominent role in Madura Raja, the rest of the cast includes Siddique, Aju Varghese, Anna Rajan, Anusree, Nedumudi Venu, Vijayaraghavan, Salim Kumar, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Bala, Bijukuttan and Manikuttan.

The technical crew of the film includes Gopi Sunder for music, Shaji Kumar for cinematography and John Kutty for editing. The film is bankrolled by Nelson Ipe under his banner on a big budget.

(With inputs from Digital Native)