KOCHI: Mollywood director Lal is paying his tribute to veteran filmmaker Fazil by signing on his son Fahad Fazil (Shanu) in the lead role of his next project 'Tournament'.

This comedy-thriller road movie has a youth based theme. Lal has scripted the movie himself and it will be a Christmas release from Lal Productions.

The young actor has shown his acting skills in his first few films like ‘Kai Yettum Doorathu’, ‘Kerala Café’, ‘Pramani’ etc. Lal has found him to be a promising actor with potential, but the actor hasn’t found the kind of role that would explore his talents and give him a good break.

Most established directors in Malayalam films right now like Lal, Rafi-Mecartin and Siddhique look upon Fazil as their inspiration.

A few days go, Lal had signed up Tamil actress Roopa Manjari for the female lead role in the film.

'Tournament' deals with eight boys and a girl. Shooting of the movie is likely to take place in locations like Bangalore, Mysore and Gundalpet.