Prithviraj takes on Mammootty this weekend

Mammootty plays a retired soldier who works as a dam operator in debutant director Anoop Kannan's Jawan of Vellimala.

Prithviraj plays a cardio-thoracic surgeon in Lal Jose's Ayalum Njanum Thammil.

Both high-profile Malayalam films will be releasing this weekend (October 19).

Jawan of Vellimala

Director: Anoop Kannan

Cast: Mammootty, Mamta Mohandas, Asif Ali, Sreenivasan

Mammootty is Gopikrishnan, a former jawan who left the Indian Army during the Kargil war for mysterious reasons. He works as an operator at the Vellimala dam. The villagers believe that Gopikrishnan is a coward, as he is active during the day but is scared at night.

"Vellimala is a remote village in the high range and the dam there was a result of many struggles. We have set this as the backdrop and there is a serious storyline, with some suspense elements, which will be unveiled on screen," says Anoop Kannan.

Anitha (Mamta Mohandas) is a camp officer in charge of the welfare of the workers.

Varghese (Sreenivasan) has recently taken charge as executive engineer at the dam. Other characters are Jeni (Leona), Varhgese's daughter, and Koshi Umman (Asif Ali), a peculiar 'Kottayam achayan', who has come to settle some pending bills as his father was a contractor there.

Jawan of Vellimala has been produced by Mammootty's Playhouse Motion Pictures.

James Albert, who wrote the super hit film Classmates, is the scriptwriter. Satheesh Kurup is the cinematographer and Biji Bal is the music director.

Ayalum Njanum Thammil

Director: Lal Jose

Cast: Prithviraj, Narain, Prathap Pothen, Samvrutha Sunil, Rima Kallingal, Remya Nambeeshan

According to Lal Jose, Ayalum Njanum Thammil is an emotional drama. It is basically about the transformation of a medical student into a responsible doctor. He is greatly inspired by a senior doctor and it is in a way, their emotional journey.

Ravi Tharakan (Prithviraj) and Vivek (Narain) are childhood friends and studied together at medical college. After finishing college, Ravi joins a hospital, where he meets a senior doctor, Samuel (Prathap Pothen) and that changes his outlook on life.

There are three heroines in the film. Sainu (Samvrutha Sunil) is Ravi's junior at the medical college, Supriya (Remya Nambeesan) is a doctor at the hospital where he is working and Diya (Rima Kallingal) is personal secretary to the chairman of the hospital.

Prithviraj says the film is about a medical student who didn't take his responsibilities seriously at a particular point of time. "It is not really about what he is today but how he reached there."

Ayalum Njanum Thammil is produced under the banner of Prakash Movie Tone. The cinematographer is Jomon T John and the music director is Ouseppachan.