Kalyani Priyadarshan has joined Ranveer Singh for the shoot of Pralay, an upcoming large-scale zombie thriller directed by Jai Mehta. The film has officially gone on floors in Mumbai and is set in a post-pandemic world facing a deadly zombie outbreak.
Ranveer Singh’s upcoming film Pralay has officially started production in Mumbai, with Lokah actor Kalyani Priyadarshan joining the cast.
The zombie thriller is being directed by Jai Mehta, son of filmmaker Hansal Mehta, and will be filmed across real locations in and around Mumbai.
Kalyani reacted to producer Ananya Birla’s announcement about the beginning of the shoot, expressing her excitement about being part of the ambitious project.
Kalyani Priyadarshan joins Pralay
Following Ananya Birla’s announcement about Pralay going on floors, Kalyani shared her reaction in the comments.
She wrote:
“Time to go make a film that we’re all going to be so proud of.”
Her message comes as the project begins its principal photography in Mumbai.
Kalyani’s involvement adds another prominent performer to the cast alongside Ranveer Singh, although details about her character are currently being kept under wraps.
The actor has recently attracted attention for her work in Lokah, and her addition to Pralay has further raised interest in the upcoming production.
What is Pralay about?
Pralay is set in a near-future version of Mumbai after a devastating pandemic transforms the city.
The situation becomes even more dangerous when a zombie outbreak threatens the surviving population.
Rather than presenting the story as a conventional zombie film, the project is being positioned as a large-scale post-apocalyptic thriller built around a world created specifically for the film.
The makers have kept major plot details confidential, meaning the characters’ individual journeys and the precise nature of the outbreak remain under wraps.
Jai Mehta directs Ranveer Singh’s Pralay
The film marks a major directorial opportunity for Jai Mehta, who has been developing the idea for an extended period.
According to producer Hansal Mehta, Jai had been working on the concept for a long time before Ranveer Singh became involved.
After seeing Jai’s directorial work, Ranveer reportedly responded positively to the filmmaker’s approach.
Jai subsequently pitched the idea to the actor, who became interested in the project.
The decision to move forward with Pralay followed Ranveer’s conviction in both the script and Jai’s vision.
Hansal Mehta says Pralay is an original story
One of the key clarifications surrounding Pralay concerns the film’s source material.
Hansal Mehta has stated that the project is an original story and is not based on José Saramago’s acclaimed novel Blindness.
The screenplay has been written by Jai Mehta and Vishal Kapoor.
The clarification is significant because descriptions of a society devastated by a pandemic and the resulting collapse of normal life had led to comparisons with Saramago’s novel.
Hansal has made it clear that Pralay is being developed independently.
Why the makers wanted to build an original world
Hansal Mehta has described Pralay as an ambitious attempt to create a post-apocalyptic world on a scale that has rarely been attempted in Indian cinema.
For the filmmaker, developing such a project involves much more than writing a screenplay.
The world of the film needs to be designed visually, with its rules, environments and atmosphere established before production begins.
Hansal explained that the team invested significant effort in developing those ideas and shaping the world Jai wanted to present.
Ranveer’s commitment to the concept also helped the project move forward.
Pralay will be shot across Mumbai
Unlike productions that rely extensively on constructed sets, Pralay is set to use real locations in and around Mumbai.
The choice is particularly relevant to the film’s premise because the city itself becomes part of its post-pandemic setting.
A familiar Mumbai transformed by a catastrophic outbreak could give the thriller a grounded quality while allowing the filmmakers to contrast recognisable locations with a radically altered future.
The production’s large scale is expected to be reflected in both its world-building and visual treatment.
Hansal Mehta on the Blindness comparison
Hansal Mehta has also spoken about why he does not consider Blindness an easy novel to adapt for cinema.
José Saramago’s book explores a mysterious epidemic of blindness and the collapse of social structures that follows.
A 2008 film adaptation directed by Fernando Meirelles was released internationally.
Hansal said he had watched the adaptation but did not feel that it successfully captured what made the novel special.
He also suggested that the writing of authors such as Saramago and Salman Rushdie can be particularly difficult to translate to cinema because some of the qualities that make their books distinctive may not survive the transition to the screen.
Ranveer Singh takes on another ambitious project
Pralay marks another unconventional choice for Ranveer Singh, who has increasingly explored large-scale and distinctive projects.
The combination of a post-apocalyptic setting, zombie elements and an original Indian story gives the film a different identity from conventional mainstream action cinema.
The involvement of Jai Mehta as director also makes the project an important opportunity for a filmmaker working to establish his own voice.
With production now underway, more details about the cast, characters and eventual release plans are expected to emerge as filming progresses.
For now, Pralay is shaping up as one of the more ambitious genre projects in development, with Ranveer Singh and Kalyani Priyadarshan at the centre of a story that aims to reimagine Mumbai after a catastrophic collapse.
