Ernakulam, Nov 29 (IANS): Work on the fifth Malayalam film in the immensely popular 'CBI' franchise, the first part of which was a superhit called 'Oru CBI Diary Kurippu', began with a traditional pooja in Ernakulam on Monday.

As in the case of all the earlier films from the franchise, this Malayalam film too is being directed by K Madhu and will feature Mammootty as the legendary Sethurama Iyer, an officer with the CBI.

The story of this investigative thriller, which has been tentively titled 'CBI 5', has been written by S N Swamy, who also wrote the stories of the other four films in the franchise namely 'Oru CBI Diary Kurippu', 'Jagratha', 'Sethurama Iyer CBI' and 'Nerariyan CBI'.

Sources in the industry say that this time around, the plot of the film will revolve around the 'Basket Killings'.

Apart from Mammootty, the film will also feature Asha Sharath, Renji Panicker and Mukesh among others.

The team has been trying to make the film for some time now. However, due to the pandemic, the filmmaking process had to be postponed. It is only now that the film has gone on floors.