Mumbai | Sequels often rely on recreating the elements that made the first film successful but Prithviraj Sukumaran steered clear of this approach with "L2: Empuraan", the highly anticipated follow-up to his 2019 hit "Lucifer".

The actor-director said he wanted to explore new ground with "L2: Empuraan", which will take forward the story of Mohanlal's Stephen Nedumpally aka Khureshi-Ab'raam, a mysterious politician-don. The movie is the second part in the “Lucifer” franchise.

"‘Lucifer 2' has an intricate plot that will keep you hooked. When you make a sequel to a very iconic and popular successful film, the easy thing to do would be to repeat the same thing.

"Like, take all the cinematic highs of ‘Lucifer' and redress them, and again, package them differently and present it and it will most likely work. But we didn't want to do that with this,” Sukumaran told PTI in an interview.

The first part of the political action thriller, which came out in 2019, turned out to be the highest-grossing Malayalam movie of that year.

Sukumaran said the franchise is very special for him and that's why he didn't want to take a "safe" approach to the sequel.

"A lot of the character arcs in ‘Lucifer 2' might surprise you. You might not like them, it might not be what you're expecting as you walk into the theatre. But this is the honest progression of the narrative and there is a progression to part three as well.” Sukumaran said the sequel holds greater national and international appeal than its predecessor.

“‘Lucifer 2' is a way more national and international scale in terms of its plot when compared to ‘Lucifer 1'. It's the reason why we wanted ‘Lucifer 2' to have a proper Hindi release.

"Almost 30 to 40 per cent of the film happens in a fictional place in North India, and about 20 to 30 per cent of the film is in Hindi. And the Hindi portions will remain in Hindi in all languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada versions.” Before directing "Lucifer", Sukumaran was slated to helm "City of God" in 2011. However, his commitment to Mani Ratnam's "Raavanan" prevented him from taking on the project.

He, however, praised Lijo Jose Pellissery, who directed “City of God”, as one of the finest filmmakers in the Malayalam industry.

“L2: Empuraan” marks the third collaboration between Sukumaran and Mohanlal after “Lucifer” and “Bro Daddy”.

Sukumaran said his relationship with Mohanlal goes back to the longstanding association between their families in Trivandrum.

“My mom used to take him to school. Mohanlal sir and my mother's side of the family knew each other way before he became an actor. So, my initial memory of Mohanlal sir is from when I was a baby,” he recalled.

Sukumaran said he was amazed by Mohanlal's readiness to fully embrace the creative process, despite his illustrious career spanning over four decades.

“All the intimidation that you would feel about Mohanlal sir, is only till you meet him,” he said.

Going forward, Sukumaran said he wants to direct diverse stories.

"The next film will most likely not have anything to do with these three films I've done so far,” he said.

Produced by Lyca Productions and Aashirvad Cinemas, “L2: Empuraan” will be out in cinemas on March 27 in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi.

Actors Tovino Thomas, Manju Warrier, Indrajith Sukumaran, and others will be reprising their roles in the sequel.