Naslen to headline Madhu C Narayanan’s second film ‘Kumbalangi Nights’

Dr Ananthu S, Madhu C Narayanan and Naslen | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

In a welcome announcement made on Monday (July 27, 2026) by producer Dr. With Ananthu on his Instagram, director Madhu C Narayanan has announced his second film via a reel titled ‘Rolling soon’. Naslen will play the main role.

The film marks the end of Madhu’s directorial hiatus after his acclaimed directorial debut Kumbalangi Nights which released in 2019. The project will be produced by Dr Ananthu and Madhu under the banners of Dr Ananthu Productions and Silent Cat Films.

Naslen was last seen in Mollywood Times directed by Abhinav Sunder Nayak which received mixed reviews. He is also slated to appear in Amal Neerad’s Bachelor Party D’eux, Rohith VS’s Tiki Taka and Tharun Moorthy’s Torpedo. He is also set to star in director Jithu Madhavan’s upcoming Tamil film Aavesham starring Suriya, which is his Tamil debut.

Meanwhile, The Hindu review of Mollywood Times said, “Abhinav uses voice-overs as heavily as in Mukundan Unni Associates, but here it only partially works. The editing in a few scenes was top-notch, but the filmmaker, who is also one of the editors, means that not much seems to have been cut. It’s almost like we feel for the others. in a loop A much leaner film with better writing in the final act could have left more determining impact.

Marketed as a ‘hate letter to cinema’, Mollywood Times would have worked better as an expose of the dark underbelly of the film industry, were it not for the stretched stages that make it a bloated work.

Published – 28 Jul 2026 16:35 IST