Prithviraj Sukumaran, Blessy, A.R. Rahman, Resul Pookutty, Prasoon Joshi and Jimmy Jean Louis discussed their 16-year-long journey to prepare for the upcoming film The Goat Life at a press conference held in Mumbai on Sunday.

Based on the 2008 Malayalam novel Aadujeevitham, The Goat Life is written, directed and co-produced by Blessy. It revolves around a Malayali immigrant labourer who finds himself forced into slavery as a goatherd on a secluded farm in Saudi Arabia. Apart from Prithviraj, the film also features Amala Paul, Rik Aby, KR Gokul and Talib al Balushi in key roles.

“It’s a very special film for multiple reasons. The journey started in 2009 when I was trying to discover myself as an actor,” said Prithviraj.

The actor, who was last seen in Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire, also said Blessy was adamant that the film should be shot in organic locations. “We started shooting in 2018. We didn’t give up even when the pandemic happened. When the world opened, we went back to Algeria. I don’t know if a film crew has ever seen the kind of places in which we shot the movie.”

Talking about the movie’s music, A.R. Rahman said he did not understand at first how big the film was. “But Blessy was very persistent. He came and told the story and I gave him a few tunes. Then I finally went to Jordan. I’m an explorer and I’m my first audience. If I get bored with something I don’t do it. I’m lucky to have great directors like Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra, Blessy, Mani Ratnam, Imtiaz Ali, Anand L Rai, and many more,” he added.

Speaking about the Hindi version of the songs released at the event, Prasoon Joshi said, “They gave me very little time to write to the melody given. This was purely composed first and written later, so I had to write to the tune.”

Jointly produced by Visual Romance Image Makers, Jet Media Production and Alta Global Media, The Goat Life is slated to hit the theatres on March 28 in Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.