Pics from Lijo Jose Pellissery's 'Jallikattu' go viral, film to premiere at Toronto fest

Malayalam movie Jallikattu directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery with Anthony Varghese playing the lead role will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which will run from September 5-15. The film is based on the short story Maoist penned by S Hareesh.

On the TIFF page of the film, the synopsis reads: "A bold new voice in Malayalam cinema, Lijo Jose Pellissery presents a portrait of a remote village in his hometown where a buffalo escapes and causes a frenzy of ecstatic violence."

Jallikattu is bankrolled by Thomas Panicker under his banner. S Hareesh in association with R Jayakumar has penned the screenplay for this venture. According to reports, the film will hit the marquee in October and the release date will be out soon.

Phars Films has procured the distribution rights of this film, confirm sources. The technical crew of this film comprises Girish Gangadharan for cinematography and Deepu Joseph for editing. Vinayakan and Sabumon Abdusamad are also part of the star cast.

Along with Jallikattu, Nivil Pauly's Moothon will also be premiered at the film festival. Directed by actor-turned-director Geethu Mohandas, the film also stars Unni Mukundan in an important role as well.

On the TIFF page of the film, the synopsis reads, "Indian writer-director Geetu Mohandas presents an unsparing yet inspiring vision of Mumbai through the story of two small-town siblings, each with their own reason for escaping to the big city, in this urgent drama pondering gender, sexuality, violence, and tolerance."

Geetu Mohandas’ urgent and thought-provoking drama THE ELDER ONE, starring Nivin Pauly (@NivinOfficial), Sanjana Dipu, @ShashankSArora, and Sobhita Dhulipala (@sobhitaD). #TIFF19 https://t.co/my8W6qBPyj pic.twitter.com/MayS193jJ7

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) August 13, 2019

The film has three Bollywood actors – Shashank Arora, Shobitha Dhulipala and Harish Khanna – in important roles. It also has Sujith Shankar, Soubin Shahir and Alencier Ley in the star cast. To be released in Malayalam and Hindi, noted filmmaker Anurag Kashyap is penning the script for its Hindi version. The film has also been chosen to be screened as the opening film at this year’s 20st edition of Jio MAMI festival which will be held from October 17-24 in Mumbai.

(Content provided by Digital Native)