Two years back, it was announced that Baahubali star Rana Daggubati will appear in a big-budget historical drama based on the life of Marthanda Varma, titled Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma, to be helmed by veteran Malayalam filmmaker K Madhu.

Rana, who was in Kerala recently to promote his new Tamil film, Kaadan (Aranya in Telugu; Haathi Mere Saathi in Hindi), has confirmed the project is still in development and attributed the delay to the extensive research. The actor seemed hopeful about the project going on floors once the pre-production work has been completed.

Marthanda Varma was the powerful ruler of Travancore known for defeating Dutch forces at the Battle of Colachel in 1741. At the time of the project's announcement, the names of visual effects supervisor Chuck Comisky (Avatar), composer MM Keeravani (Baahubali), and sound designer Resul Pookkutty were attached.