The 67th National Film Awards ceremony which was pushed indefinitely owing to the pandemic was recently held in New Delhi where the winners were announced.
Mohanlal’s Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea (Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham) won the award for Best Special Effects. The leading studio was Anibrain; a Pune-based company signed for visual effects in 2019. Anibrain along with their global partner Framestore has won the Academy Award for the movie Blade Runner 2049.
Marakkar: Lion Of The Arabian Sea stars Mohanlal as a decorated commander in Zamorin’s naval force. The film also stars Pranav Mohanlal, who plays the younger version of the superstar.
The Kunjali Marakkars are known for organising the first naval defense of the Indian coast. The film tells the story of Kunjali Marakkar IV, the fourth of the naval chieftains in Zamorin-era Calicut (Kozhikode), who fought Portuguese invasion by organising naval defense at the Malabar Coast.
Priyadarshan’s son Siddharth Priyadarshan was the VFX supervisor. Previously the film also won the Best VFX-Kerala State Film awards in 2020. Golden Star Studio, Knack Studios also worked on its VFX.
Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham was directed by Priyadarshan, and became the most expensive Malayalam film ever made, with a budget of around Rs 100 crores.