Grapevine is abuzz that Santhosh Sivan was approached by Lenin for almost one year for a film on the life and times of Raja Ravi Varma. No, no not for handling the camera! Read on...

Acclaimed cinematographer Santhosh Sivan had proved himself to be the best in the field in quite a number of films. And now the master craftsman is finally going to prove himself in front of the camera too. He will be donning the role of renowned painter Raja Ravi Varma in the new Malayalam movie to be directed by Lenin Rajendran. Titled as ‘Makaramanju’, the movie will be a period film. We hear that the project that was planned a year ago took this long to start off as the actor turned cinematographer was busy with Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’.

‘Makaramanju’ will also be special as it will be the launch pad of Karthika, the daughter of yesteryear heroine Radha in Malayalam. Karthika who debuted into filmdom with the Telugu movie ‘Josh’ opposite Naga Chaithanya is doing her final year of school in Mumbai. Radha’s daughter has started her career in Telugu and Malayalam.

Sources say that shooting of ‘Makaramanju’ will start off next week in Thiruvananthapuram and later in the sun kissed shores of Goa.