Mohanlal back to Bollywood

Malayalam superstar Mohanlal acted in his first Bollywood movie Company in 2002, which introduced him to the large Hindi-speaking audience in India. His appearance as the cerebral and intriguing Police Commissioner in Company was widely appreciated and the film was a critical and commercial hit.

His second Bollywood movie, Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag (2007), was a remake of the 1975 blockbuster movie Sholay, in which Mohanlal played again the character of a cop, played by Sanjeev Kumar in the original. Unfortunately, this film was one of the biggest flops in Indian cinema, lasting only two weeks in Indian theatres with majority of audiences leaving the film during its intermission.

Perhaps, as a result, Mohanlal did not sign any more Hindi movies. But this time, he is more confident to return to Hindi cinema with director Priyadarshan, one of the most successful commercial filmmakers in India.

"I don"t regret doing Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag. People just pounced on Ramu. They forgot how much he has achieved in the past. Such things happen! I get a lot of Hindi film offers but they don't interest me. Priyadarshan has just offered me a role in a Hindi film to be done in the middle of next year and I have accepted Priyan's film," Mohanlal revealed.

"It is a 12-13 day film, not a conventional Hindi film. It has a message on AIDS. Priyan is returning to his roots. He recently did a fantastic film called Kanchipuram. I was supposed to do it, but I couldn't. Now I'm looking forward to working with him and doing a Hindi film," he added.

Priyadarshan is currently busy completing Shahrukh Khan starrer Billo Barber, a remake of the Malayalam super hit Katha Parayumpol, which was recently remade in Tamil and Telugu as Kuselan and Kathanayukudu respectively. His recent venture, Kanchipuram, is scheduled to be shown at the Toronto Film Festival next month.