Highlights
- Kalyani Priyadarshan has joined Ranveer Singh in Pralay, which has begun filming in Mumbai
- The post-apocalyptic zombie thriller is being directed by Jai Mehta and is planned on a large scale
- Producer Hansal Mehta says the film is an original story developed around Jai Mehta’s vision
Kalyani Priyadarshan is moving from the fantasy world of Lokah into a very different kind of cinematic universe. The actor has joined Ranveer Singh in Pralay, an ambitious post-apocalyptic zombie thriller that has now gone on floors in Mumbai.
The film is being directed by Jai Mehta, son of filmmaker Hansal Mehta, and will be shot across real locations in and around the city. The story is set in a near-future Mumbai transformed by a deadly pandemic and a subsequent zombie outbreak, leaving its residents fighting to survive.
Kalyani recently reacted to producer Ananya Birla’s announcement that filming had begun, writing, “Time to go make a film that we’re all going to be so proud of.”
Kalyani Priyadarshan joins Ranveer Singh’s zombie world
The project marks another major step for Kalyani following the success and attention surrounding Lokah, while also pairing her with Ranveer in a genre that has rarely been attempted on this scale in Indian cinema.
Pralay is being mounted as an original story rather than an adaptation. Hansal Mehta told The Hollywood Reporter India that Jai Mehta had been developing the idea for a long time before Ranveer came on board.
According to the producer, Ranveer was impressed after watching Jai’s directorial work, after which the filmmaker pitched the project to him. Ranveer’s interest led to further development of the script and the world of the film.
Hansal described Pralay as a post-apocalyptic story set in a world that has not previously been attempted at this scale in India.
Why Pralay is being built differently
While details of the plot remain closely guarded, the filmmakers have stressed the scale of the project and the amount of work that went into creating its world.
Hansal said development involved more than simply writing a screenplay. The team worked on how the world would be shaped, visualised and eventually presented to a star or studio.
The film has also been the subject of speculation about whether it was inspired by José Saramago’s Blindness. Hansal has rejected that comparison, confirming that Pralay is an original screenplay written by Jai Mehta and Vishal Kapoor.
He also explained that he does not believe a novel such as Blindness can be easily translated to the screen, pointing to the differences between Saramago’s writing and the 2008 film adaptation.
With filming now underway, Pralay brings together Ranveer Singh, Kalyani Priyadarshan and a new director attempting a large-scale genre film. For Kalyani, it also marks a striking shift from the fantasy-led world of Lokah to a darker vision of a Mumbai battling a zombie apocalypse.
