but later abandoned the idea. Evaluating these unsuccessful attempts, Harikrishnan said they may have failed because they might have directly followed the myth of the Odiyans rather than making a novel attempt. Harikrishnan wrote Odiyan devoid of myth. Antony Perumbavoor suggested a major change in the first draft of the screenplay, which introduced a villain into the film. The script was completely rewritten, after which Menon described Antony as an ace script doctor. Mohanlal suggested two minor changes in the second draft and in the second sitting approved the screenplay. Harikrishnan got the plot idea when he was lecturing journalism classes; he asked the students to write a feature story to test their creativity. The subject was "if Hollywood director Steven Spielberg comes to Palakkad to meet the last Odiyan". The word "last" was registered in his mind and became the plot point in his screenplay. His story is about the last surviving Odiyan and the reasons his clan is almost extinct. The story spans 50 years and three generations of the last Odiyan lineage; it is set in the Thenkurissi village in Palakkad, where Odiyans were most popular. It is based on folktales prevalent in the Malabar region, chiefly in Palakkad. The screenplay was registered with the Writers Guild of America; producer Antony Perumbavoor gave them freedom to conceive the film as big as possible, giving the film an open budget. Pre-production The initial plan was to shoot the film in 3D but the plan was later dropped. In March 2017, it was reported that A. Sreekar Prasad would be the film's editor (he was later replaced by Johnkutty), M. Jayachandran as music director, P. M. Satheesh as sound designer, Peter Hein as stunt coordinator and Gokuldas (replaced by Prashanth Madhav) as art director. Menon said Odiyan is likely to release in 2017, but is uncertain as the film requires an extensive post-production with a large chunk of time need to be spent for visual effects. Filming was then scheduled to begin on 25 May 2017. In June 2017, the film crew convened for a script discussion session at an outdoor location in Kava, Palakkad. The film was then scheduled to begin on 1 August. The official puja function of the film was held at hotel Vivanta by Taj in Thiruvananthapuram on 5 July 2017. The venue was shared by Aashirvad Cinemas' Aadhi puja as well. In July, Menon