Director Dominic Arun has opened up about shaping the Kalyani Priyadarshan-starrer Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, revealing that its titular character is designed to be the most grounded of the franchise’s larger-than-life characters.

“Chandra is the smallest superhero in this universe,” he said in a recent interview with Club FM. “My focus was on how to keep the character rooted. What comes next will be on a bigger scale. When I narrated Chandra’s story to Dulquer (Salmaan), he told me, ‘Once you finish this, you might run out of space. Better to create and develop the rest of the universe as well.’ That is how the larger plan came together, and it took me nearly six months to build it out.”

Lokah Chapter One: Chandra has taken Malayalam cinema by storm, crossing Rs 200 crore worldwide in just 13 days and becoming only the fourth Malayalam film to achieve the milestone. Within its first week, it had already joined the 100-crore club.

Produced by Dulquer Salmaan’s Wayfarer Films, the fantasy adventure reimagines a beloved folklore of Kerala with a superhero twist, marking the first instalment of a planned five-part cinematic universe. Kalyani leads the film, with Naslen in a key role. The cast also features Chandu Salimkumar, Arun Kurian, Nishanth Sagar and Vijayaraghavan, while Tamil actor-choreographer Sandy made his Malayalam debut as the antagonist.