Vilaayath Budha

Vilaayath Budha (2025)

വിലായത്ത് ബുദ്ധ

In the secluded hills of Marayur, a region steeped in the scent and lore of sandalwood, Vilayath Buddha unfolds as a potent character drama anchored in pride, memory, and resistance.

Date of release
2025-11-21
Runtime
2h 56m
Genres
Action, Drama, Crime
Director
Jayan Nambiar

Casting

Interesting facts

Vilayath Buddha is a 2025 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by Jayan Nambiar in his directorial debut. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by G. R. Indugopan. It is produced by Sandip Senan under the banner Urvasi Theatres, in association with Anish M. Thomas. It stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Shammi Thilakan in the central roles, supported by Priyamvada Krishnan, Anu Mohan, Rajashree and Teejay Arunasalam.

Production

The development of the film commenced in May 2020, when director Sachy announced his intention to adapt the novel Vilayath Buddha by G. R. Indugopan, noting that he was particularly drawn to the story. Indugopan explains in the novel that "Vilayath Buddha" refers to premium-grade sandalwood trees, which are used in the crafting of Buddha idols. Subsequently, Sachy started working on the script.

Sachy intended to direct Vilayath Buddha after completing the script for Nambiar's film. However, the scripts remained incomplete due to his untimely demise in June of the same year. In late September, Nambiar announced that he would be directing Vilayath Buddha, with a screenplay jointly written by Indugopan and Rajesh Pinnadan.

On 7 February 2021, marking one year since the release of Sachy's final film Ayyappanum Koshiyum, Vilayath Buddha was officially announced by Prithviraj. The film would be produced under the banner of Urvasi Theatres. Jakes Bejoy was roped in to compose the music. Arvind S. Kashyap, noted for his work in 777 Charlie and Kantara (both 2022), would helm the cinematography, while Sreejith Sarang would serve as the editor.

The central characters of Indugopan's Vilayath Buddha are Bhaskaran Master, who has been growing a sandalwood tree in his yard for personal reasons, and his former student, Double Mohanan—a smuggler who defies his teacher and seeks to cut down the tree, known as the "Vilayath Buddha" for its high export value.

Prithviraj was signed to play the character Double Mohanan in September 2020. By then, the actor for Bhaskaran's role had also been finalised, though not publicly revealed. In November 2021, it was reported that Kottayam Ramesh, who was also part of Ayyappanum Koshiyum, would be portraying Bhaskaran Master. This was confirmed in October 2022, when production began.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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