Marakkar: Arabikkadalinte Simham, Mohanlal’s multi-crore movie directed by Priyadarshan, will have an exclusive three-week release in over 600 screens across Kerala when it releases in time for Onam on August 12. This comes after an agreement was reached between the Film Exhibitors’ United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) and the Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA). FEUOK President K Vijayakumar confirmed to TNM that a verbal agreement has been reached with KFPA. The much-hyped movie was originally scheduled to hit theatres on March 26, 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic had delayed the plan.

According to Vijayakumar, no other film would be released in that time period as per information that FEUOK has received so far. “We have not signed an agreement. We have verbally agreed and decided to give an exclusive three-week window for Marakkar since it’s a big-budget film and has been waiting to release for two years now. We verbally enquired if there are other films that will be releasing in the same time period, but haven’t received any such information so far,” Vijayakumar told TNM.

The Kerala government, which has eased the lockdown that was in place since May 8, hasn’t made any announcement regarding the reopening of theatres. Vijayakumar, however, sounded optimistic about this. “Yes, we’re sure theatres will be allowed to open by then,” he told TNM. He also denied reports that Marakkar’s production house has asked for a hike in the revenue: “There has been no change in the revenue-sharing agreement between production houses and exhibitors. It’s the same as usual,” he added. Usually, the revenue is divided between producers and exhibitors at a 60:40, 55:45 or 50:50 proportion.

The release of the big-budget period film has been postponed multiple times. It was postponed for the fourth time in April this year owing to the second wave of COVID-19, after it was to hit theatres on May 13. Marakkar had bagged the National Award for the best feature film in 2019 besides awards for best special effects and best costume design. Set in the 16th century, the movie is based on the life of Kunjali Marakkar, the naval chief of the Zamorin. The ensemble cast also includes Manju Warrier, Sunil Shetty, Keerthy Suresh, Arjun Sarja, Suhasini, Prabhu, Siddique, Nedumudi Venu, Innocent, Mukesh, Pranav Mohanlal and Kalyani Priyadarshan.