Lucifer (film)

Lucifer is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Prithviraj Sukumaran and written by Murali Gopy. Produced by Antony Perumbavoor through the production house Aashirvad Cinemas, the film marks Prithviraj's directorial debut and features Mohanlal in the lead role as Stephen Nedumpally, alongside a supporting cast including Prithviraj Sukumaran, Vivek Oberoi, Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, Saniya Iyappan, Saikumar, Kalabhavan Shajohn, and Nyla Usha. Deepak Dev composed the music for the film, and the cinematography was handled by Sujith Vaassudev.

Development of the film began in 2016 when Murali pitched a story to Prithviraj at the sets of Tiyaan in Ramoji Film City, it was when he decided to make Lucifer his directorial debut. Title of the film was taken from an unrealised project of director Rajesh Pillai which was also written by Murali with another story. Pre-production of Lucifer began in 2017 and Murali completed the final draft of the screenplay in February 2018. Principal photography began in mid-July that year and lasted till January 2019, with filming carried out in Idukki, Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, and Kollam districts, and Mumbai, Bangalore, Lakshadweep, and Russia.

Lucifer was released in theatres worldwide on 28 March 2019. The film performed well at the box office, crossing the ₹50 crore mark in four days, ₹100 crore mark in eight days, and the ₹150 crore mark in 21 days becoming the fastest Malayalam film to reach all three milestones. It is also the first Malayalam film to gross ₹50 crore in overseas box office.

Plot
In the state of Kerala, the sudden death of the Chief minister P. K. Ramdas (PKR), leaves a huge vacuum in not only the electoral and leadership sphere of his party (Indian United Front) but also that of the state. Ramdas is survived by his daughter Priyadarshini "Priya" Ramdas and son Jathin Ramdas. Senior leaders of the IUF party, Mahesha Varma and P. S. Peethambaran both expects to be nominated as the next chief minister of the state, but the front-runner for the seat is Stephen Nedumpally, Ramdas' confidant and rumoured step-brother of Priya and Jathin. Stephen has much larger public support than any other member of the party.

Meanwhile, Bimal Nair (Bobby), the businessman second husband of Priya devises plans to take complete control over the party by funding it and thereby facilitate unchecked drug trafficking in exchange for money. On the day of P.K.R's cremation, both Jathin and Bobby do not show up, Jathin who is abroad informs that he is in a camping trip while Bobby went to Mumbai to cut a deal with Fyodor, a Russian drug dealer. On that night, Bobby brings drugs to his drug addict step-daughter Jhanvi. She takes it and shows discomfort when he hugs. On the same night, Bobby arrives at a party meeting convened by him with all the IUF ministers. He informs his sole decision to nominate Jathin, a novice as the next Chief minister against the party nominations. The ministers are forced to comply.

Varma advises Bobby that it is best to go in good terms with Stephen to avoid a future hindrance. The next day, in the presence of Bobby, Varma briefs Stephen the party's new agenda and invites him to ally. Stephen states his objection of funding the party with drug money. He also warns them against doing it. This enrages Bobby who in turn assigns Sanjeev, the C.E.O and founder of MPTV, a news channel funded by IUF party, to defame Stephen. Channel reporter Riju is send to Govardhan, a person obsessed with finding hidden information and had once published a Facebook video about IUF members. The meeting doesn't provide information about Stephen but Govardhan hands over a file marked "X Files" containing evidences against Bobby. Sanjeev hand over this to Bobby, who manages to put Govardhan in an asylum.

Bobby sends a group to a closed timber factory at Nedumpally. Stephen who comes to know about this single handedly defeats everyone and clears the scene. At this point, Aloshy Joseph, Stephen's right hand is shown to be a mole working for Bobby. Bobby from Priya's diary happens to find that she despises Stephen due to the fact that her father loved him a lot and bringing him to their house in her childhood caused a rift between her parents. Stephen runs an institution for charity that houses abandoned people. Sanjeev manages to bribe one of the inmates Aparna to speak against Stepehen in their channel show. She lie that Stephen is the father of her infant child and he had raped her. This creates a widespread protest in the state and Stephen is arrested and imprisoned. Stephen gets a phone call in prison from Zayed Masood.

Meanwhile, Jathin arrives in the state impresses the people through his public speech. Bobby brings Jathin to India who impresses the people through his speech. While transferring fund to Bobby, Fyodors vehicles are attacked and the money is destroyed. It is found that they were attacked by Zayed Masood and his gang who demands the release of Stephen. Varma meets Medayil Rajan, the opposition party leader to arrange Bhadran to murder Stephen in the prison. But Stephen defeats them. Varma is left with no other choice other than to release Stephen. Meanwhile, Jhanvi who takes an excessive dose of L. S. D is taken to the hospital where Priya comes to know about Bobby's lustful behaviour towards Jhanvi. She threatens to expose him who, however, threatens to destroy Jhanvi's life as he has information about her contacts with local drug suppliers. He also indicates that he was responsible for the death of P. K. R and Jayadevan, her first husband. Mayilvaahanam, the commissioner of police, who also knows about the issue persuades Priya to sleep with him. Priya meets Stephen who vows to protect them at any cost.

Stephen and his men kills Mayilvaahanam and meets Sanjeev. Clearing the channel's debts, he convinces Sanjeev to hand over the evidences against Bobby. He gives it to Jathin who holds a press meet and exposes Bobby. Meawhile, Jathin tells Varma that he came to India not because Bobby asked him to do so but on Stephen's orders. Bobby retreats to the slums of Mumbai where he is captured by Fyodor's men. When Fyodor is about to kill him, Stephen with the help of Zayed kills Fyodor and his goons and shoots Bobby. Aloshy is murdered by Murugan who happens to be Stephen's spy. Govardhan is rescued and reunited with his wife and daughter. Jathin becomes the new Chief minister. Meanwhile, in a remote location in Russia, Stephen meets Zayed and team and attends a phone call as Khureshi Ab'ram. In the closing credits, headlines of various international newspapers are shown reporting Khureshi Ab'ram as the head of an illuminati society.

Cast

 * Mohanlal as Stephen Nedumpally / Khureshi Ab'raam
 * Prithviraj Sukumaran as Zayed Masood (Guest appearance)
 * Vivek Oberoi as Bobby / Bimal Nair
 * Manju Warrier as Priyadarshini Ramdas
 * Tovino Thomas as Jathin Ramdas
 * Indrajith Sukumaran as Govardhan
 * Saniya Iyappan as Jhanvi
 * Saikumar as Mahesha Varma
 * Kalabhavan Shajohn as Aloshy Joseph
 * Nyla Usha as Arundathi
 * Giju John as Sanjeev
 * Baiju Santhosh as Murugan
 * Fazil as Father Nedumpally
 * Sachin Khedekar as P. K. Ramdas
 * Suresh Chandra Menon as Abdul
 * Shivaji Guruvayoor as Medayil Rajan
 * Nandhu as P. S. Peethambaran
 * John Vijay as Mayilvaahanam IPS
 * Aneesh G. Menon as Sumesh
 * Kainakary Thankaraj as Nedumpally Krishnan
 * Bala as Bhadran
 * Adil Ibrahim as Riju
 * Shaun Romy as Aparna
 * Murugan as Muthu
 * Adarsh as Young Stephen
 * Angelina as Young Priyadarshini
 * Helen as Rahael
 * Abhimanyu as Robbie
 * Frank Free as Fyodor
 * Waluscha De Sousa as Raftaara


 * Sijoy Varghese as PR agent
 * Thara Kalyan as Hostel warden
 * Parvathi T. as Doctor
 * Binu Pappu as Jail warden Mathew
 * Baiju V. K. as Sarath
 * Parvathy Menon Shijith as Ramdas's wife
 * Sreeya Remesh as TV serial actress
 * Sshivada as Govardhan's wife (Guest appearance)
 * Shakti Kapoor as Sanghani (Guest appearance)
 * Antony Perumbavoor as Man at nightclub (Guest appearance)

Development
In mid-2012 there were reports that a film titled Lucifer was in development. It was to be directed by Rajesh Pillai, scripted by Murali Gopy, starring Mohanlal and produced by Antony Perumbavoor of Aashirvad Cinemas. It was intended to be released in 2013. Shortly after these initial reports, Pillai confirmed the project saying it is his "dream come true" to direct Mohanlal and the film will be a "treat" for his fans. Filming was to begin in 2013. However, in May 2013, Pillai said the production would not begin that year as planned since he was busy with Motorcycle Diaries and Murali was working on Left Right Left. They were to discuss the project in June and hoped to begin filming by January 2014. He also disclosed that Lucifer is a thriller, and its story has been developed. Pillai's regular collaborator Kunchacko Boban was reported to be part of the cast. Boban said that he had not officially signed to do the film, at the same time he did not deny the possibility. Pillai confirmed Murali would act in the film. Only Mohanlal and Murali had been decided upon as part of the cast as of May 2013. In July 2013, it was reported Murali had begun screenwriting. However, the plan did not come to fruition and Pillai moved on to work on other projects. He died of health issues in February 2016. Ultimately, the film was dropped.

In a July 2016 interview, Murali revealed to The Hindu that he is planning to work on a screenplay titled Lucifer between his other commitments. On 15 September, actor Prithviraj Sukumaran announced that Lucifer, written by Murali, starring Mohanlal and produced by Aashirvad Cinemas, would be his directorial debut. Murali and Prithviraj clarified that it is not the same film as Pillai's Lucifer, but they have taken the same title (Aashirvad Cinemas had registered that title in 2012 with the Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce). While talking about Lucifer inception, Murali said he had prepared two one-line stories both under the working title Lucifer. Pillai was to direct the film based on the first story, but that film did not materialise. After which, Murali abandoned that story. The second story was narrated to Prithviraj and he liked it. Murali had discussed this story with Mohanlal in 2012, but there had been no decision made on a director. Murali said Prithviraj was interested in directing a film based on his screenplay and they had discussed it for about a year. Prithviraj also had an interest to cast Mohanlal in his directorial debut, and that is when he decided to share the story idea of Lucifer with Prithviraj. Murali pitched the idea while they were having a casual chat on the sets of Tiyaan (2016) in Ramoji Film City. Prithviraj was interested yet skeptical whether Mohanlal and Antony Perumbavoor would agree with the idea of a debutant directing Lucifer as "it was a story that any big filmmaker would say yes to". The next day Antony went to Hyderabad for discussions and reached Mohanlal by telephone, and the project was set in motion. According to Prithviraj, "the thought behind the film and what the film can be" attracted him. Murali was planning to write the final draft of the screenplay after completing his acting commitments in Tiyaan and Kammara Sambhavam.

In December 2016, Mohanlal said Lucifer was still in its nascent stage and needed to be developed into a screenplay saying, "the content has to be good and that's what the focus is right now". In February 2017, Prithviraj said they would begin the pre-production later in 2017 and filming would happen in 2018. On 2 April, Mohanlal, Prithviraj, Murali and Antony convened a press conference at Mohanlal's residence in Kochi to announce the official beginning of pre-production. Prithviraj said the script had not been "fleshed out" and the rest of the cast would be decided after that had happened. Shortly after, Prithviraj bought a new apartment in Thevara as a work-space for scripting and pre-production work on Lucifer and his future projects; "I felt I needed a space to assemble my team. Do the research and develop the film. This place might well be known as Lucifer's office in future", he said. In a June 2017 interview, Prithviraj said that Lucifer should be released in 2019. Murali told The Hindu in October that he would take a break after acting in Kammara Sambhavam to write the script for Lucifer. He hoped to complete it by February 2018. In December, Prithviraj said the script was progressing and plans are to shoot the film by the end of May or beginning of June 2018 after he completes the first schedule of Aadujeevitham.

Murali and Prithviraj narrated the final draft of the screenplay to Mohanlal on 26 March 2018 on the sets of Odiyan. He was happy with the script and agreed to go ahead with shooting. Location scouting began in April 2018. In June, Mohanlal told The Times of India that the film would be shot in Kerala, Mumbai, and in a foreign location. The team was on the verge of finalising the locations in Thiruvananthapuram by the end of the month. Prithviraj disclosed in a channel podcast that filming would begin on 18 July. This was later updated to 16 July. Close to the beginning of shooting the film, Prithviraj hinted the film deals with politics. However, he said "it's a not a movie about politics but the story happens with politics in the background". The names of the technical crew were revealed in July when the first poster was released. It carries the tagline "blood, brotherhood, betrayal".

Casting
In 2014, while appearing on the Tamil talk show Koffee with DD, Prithviraj said that Mohanlal and Manju Warrier are his "dream cast" if he ever directs a film. In September 2016, actor-writer Murali said that he was uncertain whether he would be acting in the film, noting that it was premature to discuss the cast other than Mohanlal. Ultimately he did not participate. In January 2018, Madhusudhan Rao confirmed being cast in the film. He had co-starred alongside Prithviraj in Adam Joan (2017) during which he was promised a role in Lucifer. In the following month, Lena placed Lucifer on her list of upcoming acting commitments. Both Rao and Lena were not part of the final cast. Following unconfirmed reports of Warrier's casting in May, a source close to the actress confirmed the news to The Times of India. However, when asked, the production house stated the casting process was progressing and was subject to changes. She was finally cast in the role of Priyadarshini Ramdas.

In June, it was reported Saniya Iyappan was added to the cast. She plays Jhanvi, daughter of Priyadarshini. In early July, producer Antony revealed Hindi actor Vivek Oberoi was working in the film and expressed his gratitude for having him on board. Lucifer marks Oberoi's debut in Malayalam cinema. He took a month preparing for the role and retained a diction coach to help him understand the Malayalam language and its pronunciation. In the film, Oberoi's voice was dubbed by Vineeth. During post-production, Prithviraj himself dubbed all the dialogues of Oberoi and gave it to Vineeth as a reference for the character's sound modulation. In July, Prithviraj confirmed that his brother Indrajith Sukumaran is part of the cast. He plays the character Govardhan. In that month, Pouly Valsan said that she has been called for a 6-day shoot. In August, Mamta Mohandas said Prithviraj had spoken to her about a role, but cannot reveal anything about it at that time. However, she was replaced by Nyla Usha.

Prithviraj invited director Fazil to play the role of Father Nedumpally, a priest. Fazil, who had not acted in a film for nearly 34 years, commented that he agreed to take the role as he could not refuse Prithviraj. His role is as a mentor to Stephen. Prithviraj cast his Ranam co-star Giju John in a role. Tovino Thomas, Sachin Khedekar, Shivaji Guruvayoor, Nandhu, John Vijay, Kalabhavan Shajohn, Saikumar, Baiju Santhosh are among the other actors cast in the film. Prithviraj also acted in the film as Zayed Masood. His role was kept under wrap and was revealed only two days before the film's release.

Filming
Principal photography began on 16 July 2018 with a customary pooja function held at Springdale Heritage resort in Vandiperiyar, Idukki district. Sujith Vaassudev was the director of photography. Mohanlal was expected to join the shoot in the coming days. Filming took place at Kuttikkanam and Vandiperiyar early in the schedule, and at Thodupuzha later that month. Shooting also took place at Kochi, Ernakulam district before moving to Thiruvananthapuram. Around 2000 junior artists (extras) participated in the shoot at Ernakulam. Thereafter, shooting was scheduled at Thiruvananthapuram from 6 August to 15 September for 40 days. Mohanlal's first shot was with Fazil. They had two scenes and shot for three days. Stephen's (Mohanlal) car used in the film is a Hindustan Landmaster inscribed with the number 666 on the vehicle registration plate. Filming took place in Vandiperiyar in early August and was planned to take until 10 August.

Filming was planned at 25 locations in the Thiruvananthapuram district, beginning at Government College for Women from 12 August. Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School was one of the locations on this schedule. Scenes featuring Oberoi and Warrier were shot at the Kuthiramalika Palace on 20 August. On the same day, the film was also shot at a resort in Poovar. Mohanlal, who was on a break, returned to the set on 21 August. Warrier was spotted during the shoot at Azeezia Medical College in Kollam. Filming went on at the Kanakakkunnu Palace on 28 August, where Mohanlal and Warrier took part. During the shoot, many of the white taxis were transformed into official state cars. By the end of the month, Tovino joined the set at the Kanakakkunnu Palace grounds. He completed his part in the film by early September. Before his departure, his scenes with Warrier were shot at the beginning of the month and his other scenes later in September. The shoot in Thiruvananthapuram was scheduled to last until 20 September, and then was to move to Kuttikkanam. Oberoi acted in a scene shot at the Greenfield International Stadium early that month. Saikumar and Shivaji Guruvayoor took part in the shoot that took place at a university hostel in Thiruvananthapuram in the beginning of September.

In an interview, actor Nandhu said that many of the film's scenes comprised 40–50 shots and contain 500–1000 junior artists; some have as many as 3000–4000 artists. Filming went on around the overpass beside the Chandrasekharan Nair Stadium in Palayam on 4 September. More than 2000 junior artists participated in that scene. It features Stephen arriving toward a large riot. Around 5000 junior artists took part in a major scene shot in Adimalathura beach; more than 100 vehicles were used. Reportedly, almost every major character in the film was present in that scene. It was filmed in 15 days. After the schedule at Thiruvananthapuram was completed on 20 September, the production was put on hold for a break and the next session began on 5 October in Kuttikkanam.

Giju John joined the set in early October and took part in a one-day shoot in Thiruvananthapuram and later joined at Kochi location for his remaining scenes. For filming a fight scene, Prithviraj went for location scouting in Minicoy, Lakshadweep later that month. Stunt Silva was the film's fight choreographer. Shooting was scheduled for three days from 30 October to 1 November in Thiruvananthapuram for scenes featuring Tovino and Indrajith. Filming in Kerala was complete by this schedule and the next session was scheduled to begin in Mumbai from 4 November. A set was built in Mumbai, Prithviraj said: "I have a wish that the Mumbai we show in Lucifer is not what we have seen before in films. It's a major schedule". Mohanlal joined the set by mid-November. Sachin Khedekar was part of the Mumbai scenes. The team moved to Russia in December, where filming was held at Saint Petersburg. Mohanlal completed his portions in the film by this schedule. Filming also went on in Bangalore. On 30 December 2018, in an interaction with public Prithviraj said that the principal photography has been over with only four-day patch-up shots remaining to be filmed in Lakshadweep. The inability to reach the island caused the delay. Post-production works had began. Filming was wrapped on 20 January 2019 at the sea ahead of Kavaratti island in Lakshadweep.

Soundtrack
Composer Deepak Dev provided the music for the film. The soundtrack album was distributed by the label Goodwill Entertainments. Usha Uthup rendered a song titled "Empuraane - The Lucifer Anthem". For the film, Dev redesigned and programmed the patriotic song "Varika Varika Sahajare", originally composed by G. Devarajan and written by Amsi Narayana Pillai during the Salt March. The lyrical video of the same was released on YouTube on 22 March 2019. It was sung by Murali Gopy. Lyrical video of the Tamil song "Kadavule Pole" written by Logan and sung by Karthik was released on 30 March. The Hindi video song "Raftaara" sung by Jyotsna and written by Tanishk Nabar was released on 7 April.

Release
The film was released in theatres worldwide on 28 March 2019. It was also dubbed and released in other Indian languages. The Telugu dubbed version of the film was released on 12 April 2019. Tamil dubbed version was released on 3 May 2019, distributed by Kalaipuli S. Thanu. Lucifer was released for digital download on 16 May 2019, available as VOD on Prime Video in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu languages.

Marketing
The official marketing campaign of the film began in February 2019. The 26 posters of 26 characters was released in the coming 26 days starting from 20 February 2019. It was released through social media platforms. Trailer of the film was unveiled at the Asianet Film Awards function on 20 March. Don Max edited the trailer. As part of the film's promotional tour in the Middle East, a press conference was held at Armani Hotel in Burj Khalifa on 21 March, where Prithviraj, Mohanlal, Murali, Warrier, Tovino, and Antony interacted with the media. On the following day, the team arrived at the "Middle East trailer launch" event of the film held at Dalma Mall in Abu Dhabi.

Box office
In the opening day, the film grossed ₹6.7 crore from Kerala, the second biggest opening in the state behind Odiyan (2018). The earnings increased to ₹6.9 crore in the coming Sunday. The opening day worldwide gross is estimated to be ₹14 crore. In the opening weekend (28 – 31 March), the film earned ₹26.70 crore in India, including ₹22.05 crore from Kerala alone and ₹4.65 crore from rest of India with major share coming from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In the overseas markets, it grossed a total of ₹27.2 crore in the opening weekend (which is bigger than the domestic weekend total), including ₹22.2 crore from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) territories, ₹2.27 crore from the United States, and ₹2.73 crore from the United Kingdom and other regions. The estimated total worldwide gross was ₹53.90 crore – ₹54.77 crore in the opening weekend (the highest for any Malayalam film), by doing so Lucifer emerged as one of the top highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time and the fastest Malayalam film to pass ₹50 crore mark (in 4 days), per trade analysts. The film grossed ₹62 crore worldwide in 5 days.

Lucifer had more than 160,000 admissions in the UAE in 3 days, beating Captain Marvel. Opening weekend (28 – 31 March) total was $2,555,974 (₹17.8 crore) from 61 screens, the best grosser of that weekend. It is also the second biggest opening weekend in the UAE for a South Indian film, behind Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017). Lucifer became the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever in the US in the opening weekend itself, by grossing $350,000. It was also the first Malayalam film to pass $100,000 mark on a single day. By taking a total of $418,591 (₹2.90 crore) in the opening weekend itself, it became the highest-grossing Malayalam film in the North America. In the UK, the film was ranked seventh in the list of top ten best grossing films of the weekend 29 – 31 March, with $192,520 from 89 sites, Lucifer was the only foreign language film that came within the top ten positions. It grossed A$87,379 (₹42.82 lakh) in Australia and NZ$45,069 (₹21.22 lakh) in New Zealand in the opening weekend and was ranked first among the best grossing Indian releases of that weekend. Lucifer with $4.155 million had the third best opening of the year for an Indian film in overseas markets, behind Petta ($6.62 million) and Gully Boy ($4.8 million). It grossed ₹88 crores in 7 days.

As of 6 April, Lucifer has grossed nearly $600,000 in the US. On 7 April, trade analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted: "#Lucifer has emerged a trendsetter for #Malayalam films internationally. Earlier, #Malayalam films would record big numbers in certain markets [UAE-GCC in particular], but #Lucifer is doing exceptional biz everywhere, despite other language movies posing tough competition ... the super success of #Lucifer in the international arena should open the eyes of the #Malayalam film industry... And encourage makers of #Malayalam films to explore newer markets, ...". A month after release, the film became the 13th highest-grossing South Indian film overseas, by grossing $7.15 million (₹50.03 crore), and the first Malayalam film to gross ₹50 crore in overseas box office. As of 28 April, the film has grossed over ₹165 crore worldwide.