Malikappuram co-producer Venu Kunnappilly and Sumathi Valavu co-producer Murali Kunnumpurath
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22 Apr 2026, 5:04 pm
Malayalam producer Venu Kunnappilly has publicly backed several claims made by Vellam -fame businessman-turned-producer Murali Kunnumpurath, whose emotional video about financial ruin and alleged betrayal in the film industry went viral earlier this week.
Venu, best known for backing blockbuster films 2018: Everyone is a Hero, Rekhachithram and Aadu 3 , shared a lengthy social media post on Wednesday after watching Murali’s now-deleted video. Significantly, Venu had earlier co-produced the blockbuster Malikappuram , directed by Vishnu Sasi Shankar and written by Abhilash Pillai, the duo who later made Sumathi Valavu , one of the films at the centre of Murali’s accusations. The Mamangam producer had also co-produced Anand Sreebala , scripted by Abhilash, which was reportedly a commercial failure.
In the note, Venu said the viral clip had prompted him to write about the “pitfalls of cinema”. Referring to Sumathi Valavu , he claimed he had heard the story years ago and later met Murali in Dubai before shooting began. “I still remember telling him about the shortcomings of a story that was of serial-level quality, and advising him, as far as possible, not to move forward with this film,” Venu wrote. He added that Murali nevertheless proceeded with the project after being influenced by the promises of those involved behind the scenes.
Venu further alleged that a story which only had the scale of a ₹5–6 crore film ended up costing around ₹15 crore once made into a feature. He also claimed that by the time production and release expenses were added, the overall spend was close to ₹20 crore. “I go
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