Prithviraj will play a gangster in director Dipu Karunakaran's Malayalam film Tejabhai & Family, slated for release this week.

The film is a comedy, shot in Thiruvananthapuram and Malaysia. Dipu has earlier directed the horror film, Winter with Jayaram, and the comedy Crazy Gopalan with Dileep in the lead role.

The storyline goes like this.Tejabhai (Prithviraj) grows up in Malaysia and becomes an underworld don when he grows up. The all powerful gangster falls for the beautiful Vedika (Akhila), daughter of the wealthy businessman Damodarji (Thalaivasal Vijay). The story takes a different turn from then on.

Tejabhai cannot reveal his true identity to the beauteous Vedika and appears before her and her family in a totally different guise. He is advised by Rajaguru Viswavachassu (Suraj Venjarammoodu) in all these attempts.

Prithviraj, who has been having mixed fortunes at the box-office of late, is trying to make an impact with a change of image in this comedy.

Telugu star Suman plays an important role in the film. Actor Shakeela, known for her sexy roles, is also part of Tejabhai & Family.

The rest of the cast includes Jagathy Sreekumar, Salim Kumar, Jagadeesh and Nedumudi Venu.

The distribution of the films is by Anantha Release through Murali Films. Produced by P K Muralidharan and Santha Muralidharan, Tejabhai & Family has cinematography by Sham Dutt. The music director is Deepak Dev.