Fire and water become the new emblem of death in the Malayalam-language King of Kotha teaser, dropped on June 28 by Sony Music India, with a gore-splashed Dulquer Salmaan executing rivals all around the fictional town of Kotha.

Beginning with a voiceover, the one-minute-34-second-long teaser shifts to a mural on a wall and introduces the gangsters swarming the underbelly of Kotha. “This is not Gandhigram… this is Kotha… Here, when I say it’s day, it’s day and when I say it’s night, it’s night,” we hear in Dulquer’s voice before witnessing glimpses of bloody action scenes.

The period gangster movie also features Shabeer Kallarakkal, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Prasanna and Gokul Suresh in key roles. Apart from Malayalam, the film will also release in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada languages.

The Malayalam teaser of the film was unveiled by Mammootty on Twitter. “Presenting The Official Malayalam Teaser of #KingofKotha ! Best wishes to the entire team,” wrote the 71-year-old actor, who is also Dulquer’s father.

Dulquer reshared the tweet with the caption “Thank you megastar !! #bornfanboy 🤓🤓”.

Directed by Abhilash Joshiy, who is making his directorial debut with the movie, the film is produced jointly by Zee Studios and Dulquer’s Wayfarer Films.

Ahead of the teaser’s release, the makers unveiled the People of Kotha promo. Accompanied by an electrifying background score by Jakes Bejoy, the video introduced each of the film’s main characters.

King of Kotha is scheduled to release worldwide on August 24.