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Mohanlal is testing his tastebuds
Malayalam superstar has ambitious business plans
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George Iype in Kochi
Having dominated the Malayalam film industry for nearly two decades, superstar Mohanlal is now attempting to mix the reel life with the real world of business.
The actor has chalked out a slew of business projects spanning diverse areas like restaurants, education, seafood and eco-tourism.
To begin with, Mohanlal will launch a chain of restaurants under the brand name Lal's Tastebuds across the Gulf countries, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The superstar will also bring the prestigious Delhi Public School to Kerala.
Mohanlal has already opened his first restaurant in Dubai. A number of Lal's Tastebuds will soon be launched in various other Gulf cities and in Chennai, Kochi and Kozhikode in the next few months.
To bring the Delhi Public School to Kerala, Mohanlal has joined hands with a few prominent businessmen in the state and the Gulf countries. They including leading seafood exporter K C Babu, Gulf-based NRI businessman Mohammed Ashraf and Thomas Chandy who runs a school in Kuwait.
One of Mohanlal's partners in the education venture said the actor's desire to set up the DPS branches in Kerala should not be strictly labelled as a business proposition. "Mohanlal is very eager to bring a nationally reputed public school like DPS to his home state," the business partner told rediff.com.
To begin with, he said, they have already registered a trust named Rajiv Gandhi Memorial Education Trust. "We are planning three DPS branches in Kerala in the cities of Kochi, Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram. The DPS school in Kochi has already started functioning," he added.
Mohanlal and his partners are expected to invest around Rs 200 million to set up the three DPS schools in the state.
The superstar will then set up a state-of-the-art studio complex in the Film and Video Park constructed by the state government-run Kerala Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation at Kazhakoottam in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram.
The studio will have indoor and outdoor shooting locales, special effects workshops, live shoot and edit facilities and a recording suite to be used for films, video and television. Mohanlal is pumping in Rs 30 million into the studio park which is expected to be inaugurated August 17.
Noted art director Sabu Cyril and director Priyadarshan are associated with Mohanlal in the studio project.
Mohanlal now produces and distributes films in Kerala through two companies --- Pranavam Arts and Pranamam --- which he floated some years ago. He is also a partner and director of Uni Royal Marian Exports, a major Kozhikode-based seafood export company.
Some of his close associates pointed out that Mohanlal is venturing out into the world of business because "he feels that as an actor, he has reached a saturation level. It seems Mohanlal has been discussing entering business after he huge [sums of] money in some of the Malayalam films he produced," the associate revealed.
He said the superstar is also keen to set up a chain of eco-tourism projects in Kerala. "A consultant has been entrusted with the task of undertaking a feasibility study on eco-tourism resorts in key destinations across Kerala. May be eco-tourism resorts under the brand name of Mohanlal will come up in the state soon," he said.
As a precursor to his tourism business, Mohanlal has already entered into discussions with a leading public limited company for buying a 32-room stylish guesthouse that the company plans to dispose off in the outskirts of Kochi. The actors plan is to renovate and re-launch the guesthouse as an eco-tourist resort.