Prithviraj, Aadujeevitham team wrap up Jordan schedule, set to return home

Malayalam film star Prithviraj Sukumaran, who has been stuck in Wadi Rum, Jordan, for the past two months with the crew of his upcoming film, Aadujeevitham (2020), has revealed that they have finally completed the schedule.

Prithviraj wrote on Twitter, “Aadujeevitham scheduled pack-up” and shared a picture featuring the entire crew. The team is set to return home once it receives approval from the Indian civil aviation ministry, according to a report on the Manorama Online website.

In March, Prithviraj had revealed that the team had decided to stay back in Jordan and continue shooting after taking all precautionary measures.

“We are currently in Wadi Rum, Jordan, and continuing to shoot," he had posted at the time. "We have decided so because, given the circumstances, that seems to be our best option. There are no international flights operating in and out of Jordan at the moment, and given the fact that all of us are already here, we can either stay put in our camp in the desert, which is currently accommodating only our unit, or get out and shoot at our location, which is barely a few minutes outside our camp. After consulting with the authorities and undergoing medical check-ups for each member of the unit, we have been given a go-ahead for the shoot as the location and the process of filming Aadujeevitham is itself very isolated,” he said.

Aadujeevitham, based on the critically acclaimed eponymous 2008 novel about an abused migrant worker in Saudi Arabia, is one of the most anticipated films of the year in Malayalam.

While Prithviraj is in the lead role of Najeeb Muhammad, an Indian worker who goes missing in Saudi Arabia, the film also stars Amala Paul as the leading lady. The film is being directed by Blessy.

The film marks AR Rahman’s return to Malayalam cinema after 25 years. In 2018, speaking in Dubai ahead of a concert organized to celebrate 25 years of his musical journey, Rahman had said he was thrilled to have signed a Malayalam film after a long gap. “I’m working with director Blessy for Aadujeevitham; it’s a beautiful love story,” the Oscar-winning composer had revealed.

Rahman’s last Malayalam outing was the Sangeeth Sivan-directed 1992 film, Yoddha, which was his second film as a composer.