DAMMAM: The Indian actress and performer Manju Warrier, recognized in her homeland as “Girl Celebrity,” visited Dammam on Saturday on the ultimate cease of a three-city go to to the Kingdom to premiere the trailer for her newest movie “Ayisha.”

On the three-day journey — Warrier’s first to Saudi Arabia — the actress spoke in regards to the upcoming multilingual film, which is predicated on the life tales of an Indian housekeeper, Ayisha, performed by Warrier, and a Saudi girl, the mistress of the home.

The film is generally in Arabic and the Indian regional language Malayalam, but in addition options Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, with a sprinkling of English.

“It’s in all probability one of many first Indo-Arab intersectional motion pictures. I can not consider a greater platform to showcase our movie than Saudi Arabia as a result of the story occurs in Saudi Arabia, and it superbly portrays the connection between Indian and Arab cultures. It’s a narrative about a gorgeous friendship between the 2 cultures and two individuals,” Warrier advised Arab Information.

“I take into consideration 80 p.c of the actors on this movie are Arabic, Egyptian, Syrian, Nigerian or Indonesian, so that is intersectional cinema in its true sense,” she stated.

The actress started her mini-tour in Jeddah earlier than visiting Riyadh. Dammam was her ultimate cease earlier than leaving the Kingdom. Prolonged queues greeted her arrival in every metropolis.

“There are quite a lot of home windows opening from Saudi Arabia to the world. There’s a heat welcome that’s being prolonged to your entire world from Saudi Arabia in artwork and tradition, particularly for ladies and the empowerment of girls,” she stated.

Warrier launched herself to the admiring crowd as an “actor from south India.”

With greater than three many years of expertise within the movie business and over 40 motion pictures to her title, the 44-year-old mom of 1 is a cinema heroine to many South Indian followers in Saudi Arabia.

Warrier, a savvy social media influencer with 2.6 million followers on Instagram, took selfies with followers and spoke with viewers members for nearly an hour, responding to questions largely from younger ladies who had been interested in her dancing profession.

The actress danced with younger ladies from a neighborhood dance faculty on a stage set as much as launch the trailer, took time to award a neighborhood Indian nurse a money prize for her service, and accepted a portray of her film poster by a neighborhood Indian artist.

Viewers got a glimpse of what they might anticipate within the movie.

“The movie echoes the lives of hundreds of thousands of Indians who’ve migrated to the Gulf international locations, and displays the connection fashioned, established and maintained between the 2 areas. This movie goals to focus on the great thing about the Arab custom, as a token of affection to the area it’s primarily based on, and to showcase the fascinating profile of human bonds,” the filmmakers stated in a press release.

Award-winning Indian choreographer Prabhu Deva created dance strikes combining Indian and Gulf actions and sensibilities, famend composer M. Jayachandran composed the rating, and singer Shreya Ghoshal lent her stunning voice to the movie.

A number of Arab musicians contributed to the film as properly, together with Noora Al-Marzooqi, who wrote the Arabic lyrics. 

The press occasion was hosted on the Cinepolis Cinema Theatre, LuLu Mall.

After viewing the trailer, a longtime Saudi actor, who was in attendance, urged the movie staff to chop a scene he thought-about distasteful.

The Indian director, Aamir Pallikal, who made his directorial debut with the film, swiftly took the mic and promised to take away the scene, which didn’t elegantly painting a Saudi man dancing.

The scene will likely be lower from the GCC showings, and the producers, who had been additionally in attendance, thanked Saudi residents for being diligent and gracious of their mild, however agency, critique.

South Indian Mohammed Ashhal, who got here to the preview along with his household, stated that he was excited to convey his six-year-old daughter, named Aayisha, who is a large fan of Warrier.

“We normally watch Tamil and Malayalam motion pictures as a result of we’re from South India; we’re from Kerala. We got here to see Manju Warrier, however we simply caught a glimpse of her face. They didn’t anticipate it to be so crowded,” he stated.

Manufacturing of “Ayisha” will likely be accomplished within the subsequent few weeks, and the movie will likely be proven at cinemas throughout Saudi Arabia, the GCC and in India.