''Aanum Pennum'' () is a 2021 Indian

Malayalam-language Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

anthology film featuring three segments directed by

Venu The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, actor, and distributor, who works in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his films such as '' Daddy Cool'' (2009), ''Salt N' Pepper'' (2011), '' 22 Female Kottayam'' (201 ...

and Jay K. The film explores the stories of man-woman relationships in the backdrop of three different timelines with each segment telling a story on romance, betrayal and lust. The anthology features an ensemble cast of

Parvathy Thiruvothu Parvathy Thiruvothu Kottuvattaa (born 7 April 1988) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil language films. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South, and two Kerala State Film Award ...

, Asif Ali,

Joju George Joseph George, better known as Joju George (born 22 October 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in Malayalam films and worked on Tamil projects as well. In 2015, he won the ...

Samyuktha Menon Samyuktha Menon (born 11 September 1995) is an Indian actress and model who mainly appears in Malayalam films along with a few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films.Her debut in the Malayalam film Industry was through the 2016 film ''Popcorn''. Earl ...

Roshan Mathew Roshan Mathew (born 22 March 1992) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Malayalam films and Hindi, Tamil & Telugu films. He began his career with numerous theatre productions based in Chennai and Mumbai. These include ''The Glass M ...

Darshana Rajendran Darshana Rajendran is an Indian actress who works predominantly in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. Darshana debuted her acting career in the 2014 Malayalam film ''John Paul Vaathil Thurakkunnu''. She then acted in '' Mayanadhi'' directe ...

Indrajith Sukumaran Indrajith Sukumaran (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of Prithviraj Sukumaran. Indrajit ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

Kaviyoor Ponnamma Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing cred ...

and

Basil Joseph Basil Joseph (born 28 April 1990) is an Indian film director and actor who works in the Malayalam film industry. He directed three films, ''Kunjiramayanam'' (2015), ''Godha'' (2017) and ''Minnal Murali'' (2021). All three films were a huge suc ...

Bijibal Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films, documentaries, short films and television commercials. He has composed for more than 150 feature films, several documentaries and televisi ...

and Dawn Vincent composes the original songs and background score. The film is presented by

Rajeev Ravi Rajeev Ravi is an Indian cinematographer, director, and producer from Kochi, Kerala. He's best known for his work in Hindi and Malayalam films. After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1997, he started his career ...

and produced by C. K. Padma Kumar and M. Dileep Kumar under Prime Production.

Short Films

Production

Jay K.'s film has completed filming in 2019 while, other films are in different stages of production. Venu's segment which is set in the backdrop of 1950s was shot in

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

. Aashiq Abu's segment was filmed during November 2019.

Music

The first song from the film was released on 26 March 2021 by

Manorama Music Manorama Music is a music company based out in Kerala, India. It owns probably the largest music label in Kerala. The label has produced and distributed film soundtracks, poems, cartoon series, music albums etc. The company is owned by M.M. Pub ...

on their

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

Release

The film was released on 26 March 2021. The film is available for online streaming on Amazon Prime Video
Saina Play
an
Koode

Reception

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu' ...

of Film Companion South wrote "Rani, the third film is the real standout. If you take just the form, ignoring the content for a moment, the way the scenes are written with the dialogue and silence, the way the music kicks in on time and goes out, the unexpected twist with an elderly couple and a Biblical confusion that comes to haunt a man...it doesn’t feel like a film about something specific. It feels like snapshots pulled out of people’s lives, which is the toughest thing for a filmmaker to do. Rani, with a breathtaking ending, is the only film that worked in this anthology."

References

External links

* {{Aashiq Abu 2021 films 2020s Malayalam-language films Indian anthology films Films shot in Palakkad Films directed by Aashiq Abu