Pulimurugan turned 10 this October, and director Vysakh is looking back at how the Mohanlal action film was made. He also answers the question fans still ask him most: will there be a Pulimurugan 2?
He shared the memories in a recent interview. His remarks below are from that conversation.
Vysakh says he came home with a high fever the day before release and was worn out. He still went to the theatre that morning. Watching the crowd turn the show into a celebration is the memory he returns to first.
Release day, real tigers and early VFX
The tiger scenes were shot in Thailand. It was Vysakh's first time filming with wild animals, and he says the whole crew tensed up whenever the tiger came close. The animal was well trained, and its handlers kept reassuring the team.
The visual effects were split between Firefly in Hyderabad and PMP in Chennai. VFX tools were far more limited a decade ago, so shots went back and forth many times before they were final.
Vysakh names Mohanlal as the biggest reason the film worked. He says the actor gave around 150 days to a role written around him.
He gives half the credit to writer Udayakrishna, for whom this was the first solo script. He also thanks action director Peter Hein and producer Tomichan Mulakuppadam, who backed a big budget when few Malayalam films had one.
Pulimurugan 2: waiting for the script
According to Vysakh, Tomichan calls him every month to ask about a sequel. His answer stays the same. The team will make Pulimurugan 2 only if a strong script comes together.
Why Pulimurugan still matters
Pulimurugan arrived as a Pooja holiday release in October 2016, with Mohanlal as a hunter who takes on a man-eating tiger. Its scale, with animal action and heavy VFX, raised the bar for what a Malayalam mass film could attempt.
The appetite for it has not faded. The official trailer on the Mulakuppadam Films YouTube channel stood at 5,671,459 views when we checked at 7.21 pm on October 13, 2026.
Key details
Film: Pulimurugan (2016)
Director: Vysakh
Writer: Udayakrishna
Cast: Mohanlal, Jagapathi Babu, Kamalinee Mukherjee
Producer: Tomichan Mulakuppadam (Mulakuppadam Films)
Action: Peter Hein
Music: Gopi Sunder
Vysakh's most recent film, Khalifa with Prithviraj Sukumaran, is now streaming. For Pulimurugan 2, the next step is a script that the director is happy with.
