Over the last few weeks, reports about Prithviraj Sukumaran returning to Hindi films with a project that will reportedly launch actor Saif Ali Khan’s son, Ibrahim Ali Khan, have been doing the rounds. While the actor, who has done three Hindi films so far — Aiyyaa (2012), Aurangzeb (2013) and Naam Shabana (2017) — doesn’t spill the beans on the movie, he hints that a Bollywood project will soon be underway. “I’ve read four Hindi scripts and I liked them. I may sign one soon,” says the actor, who is known for his Malayalam outings.

Explaining what kept him away from Bollywood for demi-decade, the 40-year-old says, “I didn’t do Hindi films because Malayalam cinema has been fantastic. The kind of work that found its way to me was gratifying.”

He adds that a couple of interesting Hindi film offers did come his way, but his hands were full. “I couldn’t say yes to them because of Aadujeevitham (upcoming Malayalam film). Now that it is done, I can explore other projects,” he says.

Sukumaran, who was last seen in Jana Gana Mana, has also directed films such as Lucifer (2019) and Bro Daddy. Ask him about the obsession with the idea of pan-India films in the recent times and Sukumaran says, “It makes absolute sense to me. It’s an off-shoot of how the cinema business model is structured these days. Any big film is anyway dubbed in at least four languages, as that’s how digital licensing is structured.”

He adds that as a filmmaker, the dubbing of a movie has to be supervised. “So, if you make that much effort, you can also make the effort to release the film in theatres. Every movie might not be a KGF: Chapter 2 or RRR, but at least you can make sure that you give people across India an opportunity to watch a film in a language of their choice, in theatres,” the actor ends.