Brothers Indrajith, Prithviraj head for a showdown

It is battle royal between two brothers -- Prithviraj and his elder brother Indrajith -- this weekend at the marquee as both have a film each releasing on Friday.

Prithviraj's Thanthonni and Indrajith's Nayakan is a rather unique occurrence.

Indrajith feels that it will be for the first time that two big films from two brothers is releasing on the same day, in the history of Malayalm films.

"But we are used to such healthy competition from our school days and we are both happy about the release of the films on the same day. Of course, he is already a big star and I hope Nayakan will make a big difference in my career in a positive way."

Debutant director Lijo Jose Pellissery's Nayakan has been in the making for a while. The film stars Indrajith in an altogether new avatar with Thilakan and Dhanya Mary in important roles.

Lijo, the son of late Malayali comedian Jose Pellissery, has earlier directed an award-winning short film titled 3.

A visibly excited Indrajith says that he was in fact waiting for such a character.

"There have been roles of different shades for me in my career. From cops, to hardcore baddies and even comedy characters, I have done it all. But I am doing a full length action film for the first time. I am sure that this is one character that will display my talents to the fullest. I have done real hard work and have even shaped my body to suit the role," says the hero.

Nayakan narrates the journey of a Kathakali artiste to find the person who has wreaked havoc in his life.

From a soft spoken Varadan Unni, the character transforms to a dreadful Varadhan.

"I loved the script. But Lijo was a rank newcomer. However when I saw his short film, I was absolutely convinced. I have learnt Kathakali for a while and have been on a strict diet and regular workout to improve my physique. It has been a great experience altogether for me, both as a person and as an actor," he says.

Thilakan, Siddique, Jagathy Sreekumar, Lalu Alex and Vijayaraghavan include the cast of Nayakan, which is made under the banner of Illuminato films in association with Kaithakkattu Visual Media.

The character played by Thilakan is Vincent Karanavar. It should be quite interesting to see the veteran actor in action. Right now, he is at the centre of a storm, where he is at war with the Malayalam actors' association AMMA, after his allegations that he was deliberately dropped from a few projects.

The crew consists of camera man Manoj Paramahamsa, lyricist Sachidanandan Puzhankara, music director Prashant Pillai. and screenplay writer Rafeek P S.

Indrajith is pinning all hopes on Nayakan which he believes will take him to the top category. He is on a roll with the success of his latest release, Happy Husbands, which has him playing a Casanova.

Indrajith has also tried his crooning abilities, by singing a song for the film.

Indrajith says that "art forms like Kathakali are being used in cinema mainly in offbeat films, but it has been used quite intelligently in Nayakan. It is a technically brilliant film where a deadly combination of art and action has been mixed. I sincerely hope it gets accepted by the viewers at the box office."

While he is still trying to reach the top slot, his younger brother, Prithviraj, was anointed a superstar after the success of Puthiyamugham. Indrajith perhaps hopes that now it's his turn.

Can Nayakan do the trick for him? Let's wait and see.