The incredible Mohanlal has done it again. He has completed Bhagavan, directed by Prasanth Mambulli in 17 hours flat and has created a new record.
The film is a thriller set in a hospital where terrorist takes over and kidnaps the Home Minister who is undergoing treatment there. Mohanlal plays Dr. Venugopal, who bravely fights back the terrorist using tact and intelligence.
The film is just two hours long and an incident that takes place between 9 to 11 AM in the morning. The shooting took place at Allied Ayurvedic and Research hospital at Arthattu near the temple town of Guruvayoor.
Director Prakash was very keen that the film should be shot in 12 hours but due to a cloud formation, the outdoor shoot in the hospital garden was delayed.
They started the shoot at 7 AM in the morning, which went up to midnight. Besides Mohanlal the other actors are Lakshmi Gopalasami, Tamil villain Daniel Balaji, Sreenath, Srijit Ravi, Sudish. The camera chief was Lokanathan.
Says Prasanth, the director: "We shot with seven cameras and a steady cam camera, one Jimmy Jip, two 40 feet cranes, a mini crane and lights. We canned 64 scenes out of which Mohanlal is there in 57 scenes. There are two songs including the title song in the film. There were nearly 255 strong unit members from light boys to assistant cameramen and associate directors who made it possible."
Added Mohanlal, who did not have even have his lunch as he was busy moving from one set to another set in the hospital location: "It's incredible that these boys could shoot a full length movie in 17 hours. I thoroughly enjoyed doing the film, which had a great concept."
Mohanlal will now dub for the film, which will be processed at Gemini Lab in Chennai. Bhagavan is going to be a unique trendsetter that will release on January 26.