''Ennu Ninte Moideen'' (English: ''Yours Truly, Moideen'') is a 2015

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Malayalam 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 ...

-language

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

romantic drama film written and directed by R. S. Vimal, based on the real-life story of Kanchanamala and B. P. Moideen, which took place in the 1960s in

Mukkam Mukkam is a major municipality town in Kozhikode, state of Kerala, India. Mukkam is one of the major regional suburb of the Kozhikode district. Mukkam is located about 27 km east of Calicut city on the bank of river Iruvanjippuzha, one of th ...

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of rol ...

and

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 ...

essay the title characters of Moideen and Kanchanamala while Bala,

Tovino Thomas Tovino Thomas (born 21 January 1989) is an Indian actor and film producer who prominently works in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2012 with the film ''Prabhuvinte Makkal''. His breakthrough roles were in the films ''ABCD'' (2013), '' 7t ...

, Sai Kumar,

Sashi Kumar Sashi Kumar (born 23 February 1952) is an Indian journalist and media personality from Kerala. He worked in Asianet, the country's first regional satellite television channel. He founded and chairs the Media Development Foundation, the not f ...

and

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

appear in supporting roles. Music was composed by

M. Jayachandran Madhusoodanan Jayachandran is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he wo ...

and

Ramesh Narayan Ramesh Narayan (born 3 November 1959) is an Indian classical vocalist, composer and music producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He belongs to the Mewati gharana of Hindustani classical music. Narayan began his initial traini ...

, while background score was composed by

Gopi Sunder Gopi Sundar C. S. (born 30 May 1977) is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works prominently in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He started his career composing music for tel ...

. The cinematography was by Jomon T. John. Upon release, it received a positive critical response and was a commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time, grossing more than 50 crore at the box office. It is widely regarded as one of the best movies of the Malayalam New Wave movement.

Plot

Set in the 1960s and '70's in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, the film tells the tragic love story of Moideen who belongs to a renowned

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

family and Kanchanamala who is the daughter of an aristocratic Hindu

Thiyya The Ezhavas () are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. They are also known as ''Ilhava'' ...

landlord. Since inter-religious marriages were a taboo then, the couple had to part ways as their families objected to their love affair. Moideen shifted ground to being a socio-political activist and Kanchanamala lived in her house under strict restrictions for 22 years. Both communicated through letters and language they had developed. Eventually Kanchanmala was caught and beaten mercilessly by her conservative relatives. Balyambra Pottattu Unni Moideen Sahib, Moideen's father , stabs him since Moideen does not agree to part ways with Kanchanamala but he miraculously escapes. Moideen reveals to the judge/police that it was an accident and his father was not responsible. This confession transforms Balyambra Pottattu Unni Moideen Sahib's attitude towards his son; however, he dies immediately afterwards due to a heart attack. Eventually, Moideen and Kanchana decide to elope but when Moideen was returning after collecting their passports, the boat he was travelling gets caught in a whirlpool. Although he managed to save his fellow boatmates, he gets caught in a whirlpool and dies. His body is found after 3 days. Upon hearing about his death, Kanchana decides to commit suicide but is stopped by Moideen's mother. In the end, Kanchana leaves home to live in Moideen's house, as Moideen's unmarried widow. It is also stated that she is still alive.

Cast

as Balyambra Pottattu Moideen *

as Kottatil Kanchanamala * Bala as Kottatil Sethu Madhavan *

as Perumparambil Appu * Sai Kumar as Balyambra Pottattu Unni Moideen Sahib *

as Kottatil Madhavan *

as Pathumma *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karamana, ...

as Mukkam Bhasi *

Sivaji Guruvayoor Shivaji Guruvayoor (born 28 May 1961) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema. He started his film career with the film '' Arabikkatha''.He is known for his negative roles and character roles. Personal life He is married to Lilly and ...

as Kunjammavan * Sudheesh as Kottathil Ramachandran *

Kalaranjini Kalaranjini is an Indian actress and classical dancer who started her career in the early 1980s. Personal life Kalaranjini was born to theatre artists Chavara V. P. Nair and Vijayalakshmi. She is divorced and has a son, Prince. Partial film ...

as Janaki * Surabhi Lakshmi as Maaniyamma, servant in Kanchana's house *

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

as Nottan Vaidyar * Disney James as Prabhavathi's Husband *

Kozhikode Narayanan Nair Kozhikode Narayanan Nair is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema, who has acted in more than 300 films. He entered the "Malayalam" movie industry (Mollywood) through a drama troupe. His first film was ''Aabhijathyam'' (1970), and he is also rem ...

as Appu's father * Majeed as Ullatil Sahib * George Tharakan K. J. as Sub-inspector * Balaji Sarma as Mukkam Narayanan * Vijayan Karanthoor as Soofi haji * Krishna Namboothiri * Jayashankar Karimuttam *

Aneesh Gopal Aneesh Pilathottathil better known as Aneesh Gopal is an Indian actor and graphic designer known for his works primarily in malayalam films. He made his debut with ''Second Show'' in 2012. Personal life Aneesh Gopal was born in Cheekkode villag ...

* Nandan Unni * Master Roshan as Kochappi *

Sija Rose Sija Rose is an Indian actress, who predominantly works in Malayalam Cinema. Early life Sija completed her schooling from Indian school al wadi al kabir in Muscat, Oman. Sija Rose wanted to follow her father's footsteps and pursue journalism ...

as Ameena *

Devi Ajith Devi Ajith (born 28 March 1973) is an Indian actress, dancer and a television personality in the Malayalam film industry. She is known for her roles in '' Trivandrum Lodge'' and ''Immanuel''. She is also seen in a short film named ''Virgin Roa ...

as Moideen's aunt * Roslin as Appu's mother * Sneha Raj as Ramadevi * Charutha Baiju as Leela * Jaya Noushad as Singer in drama * Swathi Noushad as Indrani, Kanchana's sister * Shilpa Raj as Marina * Vaiga * Deepika Mohan * Kozhikode Saradha * Kozhikode Ramadevi * Preetha Pradeep * Jija Surendran * Nila Noushad * Badri Krishna as Velayudhan

Production

The film is based on the real life love story of Moideen and Kanchanamala, which happened in 1960s in the backdrops of river

Iruvanjippuzha Iruvazhanjippuzha, or Iruvanjipuzha, is a major tributary of River Chaliyar and joining to Chaliyar at Koolimadu near Cheruvadi. Its major tributary is Chalippuzha, which joins with it about 3 km north of Thiruvambady town. Other tributaries ...

and

village. Vimal first made the story into a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

and then developed it into a full-length feature film. In October 2014, Kanchanamala had accused Vimal of "tweaking their story", stating that several incidents had not been shown correctly in the film. Prithviraj was chosen to play Moideen upon the insistence of real-life Kanchanamala, as she felt that he had a resemblance to Moideen.

was signed to play Appuettan (Kanjanamala's cousin), who said that Prithviraj suggested him for the role. The film was launched at Mascot Hotel in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

on 9 July 2014. The shoot was supposed to begin in the first week of August 2014 but was postponed due to rain. Though set entirely in

, the film was not shot there; it was shot mostly in

Shoranur Shornur is a town and a municipality located in the Palakkad district, in the Indian state of Kerala, located on the banks of the Bharathapuzha River. The town covers an area of 32.28 km2. Geography Shornur is located at . It has an ...

and nearby areas.

Soundtrack

The background music for the film was composed by

, who also composed a song. Other songs were composed by

and

Rafeeq Ahamed Rafeeq Ahmed (born 17 December 1961) is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a five-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs in his cr ...

penned the lyrics. A poem by renowned poet Changampuzha Krishna Pillai was used in the film. The song "Mukkathe Penne" was composed within five minutes. Gopi Sunder says, "We were doing the background music when director requested us to create a background song for the movie. Mohammed Maqbool Mansoor, a singer who helps me with the Sufi notes, was there during that time. I hummed this tune to him for which he wrote lyrics. He crooned it and thus the song was born." For the song "Kathirunnu",

won the

National Film Award for Best Music Direction The National Film Award for Best Music Direction (the Silver Lotus Award) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards by the Directorate of Film Festivals to a musician who has composed the best score for films produced within th ...

for the first time in his career.

Release

The film released on 19 September 2015 in Kerala and outside Kerala on 2 October. The television satellite right of ''Ennu Ninte Moideen'' was purchased for an amount of 7 crore by

Asianet Asianet may refer to: Disney Star channels *Asianet Communications, an Indian media company wholly owned by Disney Star **Asianet (TV channel), a Malayalam language general entertainment channel **Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertai ...

, which is the highest satellite purchasing amount in Malayalam.

Film festival screening

The film was among the seven films selected to be screened in the Malayalam Cinema Today section of the 20th edition of the

International Film Festival of Kerala The International Film Festival of Kerala (abbreviated as IFFK) is a film festival held annually in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, India. This film festival started in 1996 and is hosted by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy ...

(IFFK). However, director R. S. Vimal decided to withdraw the film from the festival as it was not included in the Competition Section.

Critical response

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote that the film "presents a classic case of how a compelling real life incident can be adapted for the screen without compromising on the aesthetics of the medium." Writing for the same newspaper,

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' ...

stated, "Even with flatly written characters and plodding narration, the film strikes a chord. We respond to the film because few among us have experienced a love so mythic — it's the amative equivalent of cheering for

Erik Weihenmayer Erik Weihenmayer (born September 23, 1968) is an American athlete, adventurer, author, activist and motivational speaker. He was the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001. As a result of this accomplishment h ...

, the blind man who conquered Everest." Veeyen of ''Nowrunning.com'' rated 3/5 and opined that it is "a slow-burner that invites its viewers to soak themselves in a compelling romantic tale that is prudently drawn from real life." He added: "A pithy, well-acted and remarkably crafted film, this devastating narrative of love, comes across as a true celebration of the tender, expectant spirit that lies deep within it." He further commented on the film maker by stating that "..some brilliant movies are based on such true stories, and Vimal can rest assured that he has done fine justice in adapting the much admired real-life chronicle on to the big screen." Hailing the film as "probably the best love story to have graced the screens in the last decade in Malayalam Cinema," Rejath RG of ''

Kerala Kaumudi ''Kerala Kaumudi'' is a Malayalam language daily newspaper published from Kerala, India. It was founded in 1911 by C. V. Kunhiraman as a periodical. His son K. Sukumaran later served as the newspaper's editor. Kerala Kaumudi Daily is among th ...

'' described it as " a masterful piece of cinema that is sure to leave a long lasting impression in the hearts of moviegoers." He commented on the filmmaker saying, "R S Vimal has made a gem of a movie, an unforgettable love story of epic proportions." G. Ragesh of ''

Malayala Manorama ''Malayala Manorama'' is a morning newspaper in Malayalam published from Kottayam, Kerala, India by the Malayala Manorama Company Limited. Currently headed by Mammen Mathew; it was first published as a weekly on 22 March 1888, and currently has ...

'' rated the film 3.5/5 and described it as "a love saga at its ethereal best". He wrote: "Apart from being an inquiry into the unknown realms of human emotions such as love, revenge and envy the film has a smooth narrative which offers a glimpse into the socio-political milieu of the time." He appreciated Vimal's direction, saying that "the clarity with which the director worked on it

he film He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

is remarkable." Describing the film as "one of the best ever love stories made in Malayalam cinema and the best movie of recent times," Akhila Menon of ''Filmibeat.com'' gave a rating of 4/5. She wrote: "It is wonderful to watch the classic form of romance back on the screen, in its complete glory." She added that a "well-written script plays the backbone for the film" and "the only minus factor

f the film F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''. Hist ...

is, Kanchanamala gets over-shadowed by Moideen certain points." Kanchanamala became an icon of woman sacrifice for eternal love as per the readings of R. Suresh Kumar in online news paper ''Azhimukham''. Sethumadhavan of '' Bangalore Mirror'' rated the film 4/5 and said, "Despite the story being so old, the screenplay is powerful enough to hook the audience and make one ignore a few loose ends. Whenever and wherever cinematic liberty has been taken, it does not come across as jarring." Shyamlee Ahmed of ''The American Bazaar'' noted that the "powerful story is a far cry from the modern day puppy love stories coming out of Bollywood" and that the film "will be here to stay in our hearts "ennum" (forever), for its effervescent one of a kind eternal love."

Box office

The film collected approximately 81 lakh on the first day of release and 1.25 crore in the second day, with

Malabar region The Malabar Coast is the southwestern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Geographically, it comprises the wettest regions of southern India, as the Western Ghats intercept the moisture-laden monsoon rains, especially on their westward-facing m ...

contributing a major share.Akhila Menon (21 September 2015)
"Ennu Ninte Moideen: First 2 Days Box Office Collections"
''Filmibeat.com''. Retrieved 21 September 2015. It collected 6.32 crore in 6 days and 10.5 crore when it completed 9 days from Kerala alone. The film collected 19 crores from 18 days from Kerala alone. On 14 October 2015, ''Filmibeat.com'' reported that the film's gross collection crossed 21.8 crore, making it the biggest hit in Prithviraj's career. Within a month of release, the film's collection from Kerala theatres alone was 27.2 crore."Kerala box office: 'Amar Akbar Antony', 'LL7K' make good collection; 'Pathemari' still enjoys housefull shows"
''

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online news publication that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on busi ...

''. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 19 October 2015. It grossed about 32.67 crore and a net 25.56 crore from

in 42 days; the film's all

gross crossed 37.50 crore for the same. The film grossed $107,666 (₹ 71.79 lakh) within eight weeks of its theatrical run in the US and after the 12th weekend at the UK box office, ''Ennu Ninte Moideen'' is said to have collected a gross amount of Â£23,698 (₹ 23.40 lakh). The film collected an estimated 50 crore from Worldwide box office to become one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of all time, and the film ran over 150 days in theatres.

Awards and nominations

As of 28 March 2016, Ennu Ninte Moideen received 55 wins and 63 nominations.