Popular film and television actor Manoj Joshi has joined the cast of VA Shrikumar Menon's Odiyan. The director has confirmed this news on his Twitter handle. Joshi's casting is cause for excitement considering the actor's stature.

Joshi made his feature film debut in the Aamir Khan-starrer Sarfarosh, as one of the police officers working with Khan's character. He has since then gone on to appear in several big budget films like Chandni Bar, Golmaal, Dhoom, and Mani Ratnam's Guru. The National award winning thespian, in addition to making a mark in Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi theatre, has also written and directed plays. While he has done a significant share of drama roles, he is mostly known for his comedic roles.

Odiyan is the feature film debut of Shrikumar Menon, who has directed many popular ads, including one with Amitabh Bachchan. Joshi will be starring alongside Mohanlal, Manju Warrier, Prakash Raj, and a host of other popular names like Siddique, Innocent, Narein and Sana Althaf. The film is expected to be released towards the end of this year.