Sikandar vs L2: Empuraan movie battle: Prithviraj Sukumaran has a suggestion for Salman Khan fans

Celebrated Malayalam actor Prithviraj Sukumaran will release his third directorial venture, L2: Empuraan, on March 27. The action thriller, starring Mohanlal, Abhimanyu Singh, Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier and Prithviraj himself, will clash with Salman Khan’s Sikandar, to be released on March 30. It is also the first Malayalam movie to have an IMAX release.

Prithviraj addressed the issue of clashing with Salman Khan’s Sikandar at a press conference in Delhi. According to him, there is "no competition".

Sikandar vs L2: Empuraan

"Salman Khan is one of the biggest stars in the country, and there is no competition between the two movies. I hope it becomes a blockbuster," Prithviraj said.

The actor suggested to fans, "I will have no complaints if you watch L2: Empuraan at 11 a.m. and Sikandar at 1 p.m."

Prithviraj Sukumaran, who had his Bollywood debut against Rani Mukerji in i, acted in the Telugu movie Salaar: Part 1 – Ceasefire (2023) and the Hindi movie Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (2024). His Malayalam movie, The Goat Life, won him the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor.

L2: Empuraan, also called L2E, is the second instalment of a trilogy. The first movie was Prithviraj’s directorial debut Lucifer (2019), also written by Murali Gopy.

L2: Empuraan cast

Except for the regular cast members like Mohanlal, Tovino Thomas and Manju Warrier, the movie also featured Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi. Made with ₹30 crore, the movie reportedly minted more than ₹125 crore at the box office.

In L2: Empuraan, Mohanlal returns as Stephen Nedumpally, with Prithviraj’s Zayed Masood getting a more meaty role. Tovino, Baiju Santhosh, Manju, Indrajith Sukumaran, Saikumar, Fazil and Sachin Khedekar will reprise their roles.

Suraj Venjaramoodu joins the cast. Saniya Iyappan returns as Jhanvi. Adil Ibrahim and Sunil Sukhada will not be part of the sequel.

L2: Empuraan: Visual style

Prithviraj earlier revealed that the movie “was not shot with full format lenses”.

“I’d like to stick to anamorphics and 1:2.8 aspect ratio for all 3 films of this franchise,” he replied while answering a query on Twitter (now X). It also confirms that a third movie is in the pipeline, as promised.

Full-format lenses are designed for cameras with larger sensors, which offer more detail, depth and a wider field of view.

Saying L2E wasn’t shot with them means they likely used Super 35mm format or smaller, which is more common and cost-effective, but slightly limited in resolution and depth.

Anamorphic lenses are special lenses that compress the image horizontally while shooting and then expand it during projection or editing. This gives a cinematic, widescreen look with distinctive lens flares and a more immersive depth.

The 1:2.8 aspect ratio means the image is very wide: for every 1 unit of height, there are 2.8 units of width. It’s wider than the 16:9 ratio (used in TVs), giving it a grand, epic feel suited for theatrical releases.

This means that Prithviraj Sukumaran wants all three films in the franchise to have a consistent visual style.