Thiruvananthapuram, April 20

Decks have been cleared for the fifth edition of the blockbuster Mammootty film "Oru CBI Dairy kurippu", a rarity in the Malayalam film industry, according to its director K. Madhu.

Speaking to IANS, Madhu said that at a recent meeting with Mammootty and scriptwriter S.N.Swamy, they have decided that the fifth in the series is going to be a reality.

"Swamy has commenced his writing and once that is over, we will have another sitting. At the moment, the decision has been made and the name of the film, and all such things will be decided later. I will start to think on it again after I finish my present project and it should happen this year," said Madhu.

The first in this series titled "Oru CBI Diary Kurippu" was released in 1988 and it turned out to be one of the biggest grossers then. This provided Madhu the impetus to come out with Jagratha (1989), Sethurama Iyer CBI (2004), and Nerariyan CBI (2005).

Incidentally, in all these films Mammootty plays the role of a CBI officer Sethurama Iyer, who cracks complicated murder cases in all the four films with ease, but not without leaving the audience on the edge of their seats.

The background score of the film became quite popular, and years after the release of the first two sequels, became popular as mobile phone ringtones. All the sequels use the same background score, composed by music director Shyam.

"The rest of the cast and all other details will be decided at a later stage because at the moment, we are looking into the completion of the script," said Madhu.

Incidentally, it was a quarter of a century back that Mammootty first donned the role of CBI officer Sethurama Iyer. The last time he did a sequel to this was seven years back and with his recent films failing to warm up the box office, the ageing superstar is certain to put his best in a role that has won him laurels.