''My Story'' is a 2018 Indian

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

romance film Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...

directed and produced by

Roshni Dinaker Roshni Dinaker (pronounced: ''rɔːʃnɪ ðɪnɛkɛr'') is an Indian costume designer and filmmaker, who has worked in Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu film industries as designer, and her directorial debut with the Malayalam film '' My Story'' in 20 ...

and written by

Shanker Ramakrishnan Shanker Ramakrishnan is an Indian film screenwriter, director, producer and actor, who works primarily in the Malayalam cinema. Career He started his career immediately after completing post-graduation from the School of Management Studies, ...

. The film stars

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 cinema, Tamil language films. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South, and two Kerala St ...

in the lead roles. It was released on 6 July 2018.

Plot

A debutant actor Jay and his co-star Tara, an established actress, and a diva, fall in love on the sets of their film. However, Tara is set to marry David, a business tycoon and a bureaucrat who is also the producer of the movie. Twenty years later, Jay is a big movie star but is still in love with Tara and decides to travel to Lisbon to apologize to her for something he did in the past. In the end, Jay finds that he has a daughter with Tara and that she has been also living a dual life with her husband pining over Jay.

Cast

as Jay a.k.a. Jayakrishnan *

as Tara and Hima (Dual Role) *

Mukul Dev Mukul Dev (born 17 September 1970) is an Indian television and film actor. He is known for his work in Hindi films, Punjabi films, TV serials and music albums. He has also acted in few Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu films. He received t ...

as Sunil *

Ganesh Venkatraman Ganesh Venkatraman is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu films. He had acted in Radha Mohan's ''Abhiyum Naanum'' (2008), before working in '' Unnaipol Oruvan'' (2009) and ''Kandahar'' (2010). Career Ganesh began his ac ...

as David Eapen *Arun V. Narayan as Sidharth/Bonie(Dual Role) *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s ''Spirit'', dir ...

as Joseph Silva *

Roger Narayan Raj Narayan is an Indian actor who works in predominantly Kannada and English-language films. He is known for playing one of the leads in ''U Turn'' (2016). Career Roger Narayan studied engineering at BITS Pilani before deciding to pursue his p ...

as Himself * Manoj K. Jayan as

J. Williams (cinematographer) J. Williams was a producer, director and cinematographer of Cinema of Kerala, Malayalam language films. Primarily known as a cameraman, he has also directed 8 films and has worked in Cinema of Tamil Nadu, Tamil, Cinema of Andhra Pradesh, Telug ...

Maniyanpilla Raju Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam:മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.Nassar Nassar ( ar, نصار, lit=helper, protector, supporter, victory-maker), is a given name and surname, commonly found in the Arabic language. Alternative spellings of this name, possibly due to transliteration include Naser, Nasser, Nasir, Naseer ...

as Keshava Perumaal (Cameo) *Jay Adithya as young Jay *

Bhadran Bhadran is a village in the state of Gujarat, in far western India. It is in the Anand district. Bhadran was nicknamed the "Paris of Gaekwad state" due to its prosperity and civil works carried out by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, the vision ...

as Himself (Cameo) *

Sona Heiden Sona Heiden is an Indian actress, entrepreneur and film producer. She was crowned Miss South India in the year 2002. She is best known for her item songs in Kollywood. Personal life Sona Heiden was born on 1 June 1979 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, ...

as Dancemaster

Production

The film marks the directorial debut of film

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

commenced on 1 November 2016 in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The filming began on the same date she started her career as a designer years ago. The film was shot in Óbidos and

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

, Portugal over 45 days. It was filmed by cinematographer Dudley, Bishwadeep Chatterjee is the sound designer. Roshni also produced the film with her husband O. V. Dinaker. She came up with the plot of ''My Story'' after a friend of her named Abhijata Umesh narrated her a story. Impressed by it, she had a discussion with

Shankar Ramakrishnan Shanker Ramakrishnan is an Indian film screenwriter, director, producer and actor, who works primarily in the Malayalam cinema. Career He started his career immediately after completing post-graduation from the School of Management Studies, C ...

and developed a new story-line, which became the plot of ''My Story''. The title of the film ''My Story'' was the name of the hotel where the writer Ramakrishnan stayed during location scouting in Portugal. Prithviraj also agreed on the title. The film was made on a budget of 18 crore.

Music

The songs were composed by

Shaan Rahman Shaan Rahman (born 30 December 1979) is an Indian composer and singer, best known for his compositions in the Malayalam cinema. Shaan made his debut as a music director in the 2009 film ''Ee Pattanathil Bhootham'' directed by Johny Antony. He g ...

, while the

background score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

of the film was composed by

Raja Narayan Deb Raja Narayan Deb (Bengali: রাজা নারায়ণ দেব) is an Indian music director, composer working in the Bollywood and Bengali film industries. He is a member of the Shobhabazar Rajbari. He was a member of the Bangla band "P ...

. The lyrics were lyrics written by B. K. Harinarayanan. The soundtrack album consists 7 tracks, released by the label Vibe Music.

Release

''My Story'' was released on 6 July 2018.

Reception

Sajin Shrijith from ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naid ...

'', who rated 3 in a scale of 5 found the film's narration interesting, yet few portions "needlessly stretched". "She inakerisn't interested in winning awards; she is only interested in providing you with two hours of guilty-free entertainment", he wrote. Ayyappan R. 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 ...

'' wrote: "being a long-term love story it oscillates so much between time zones making you so giddy ... Yet, despite the zig-zagness of the form, the film moves at a smooth languid, almost dreamy, pace, befitting a mature love story". He praised the performances of Prithviraj and Parvathy, editing and colour grading. T. Nirmalkumar of ''

Mathrubhumi ''Mathrubhumi'' is a Malayalam newspaper that is published from Kerala, India. It was founded by K. P. Kesava Menon, an active volunteer in the Indian independence movement, Indian freedom struggle against the British Raj, British. The word "M ...

'' rated 3 out of 5 and praised the lead performances, particularly Parvathy's, and said the film "demonstrates the craft which is not of a debutante. It is a love story portrayed on a colourful and unique canvas. But, the engaging first half storytelling is followed by a cliche flashback which made it an ordinary story". Priya Sreekumar of the ''

Deccan Chronicle ''Deccan Chronicle'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded by Rajagopal Mudaliar in the 1930s & currently owned by Samagrah Commercial Pvt Limited. It is published in Hyderabad, Telangana, by Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited ( ...

'' appreciated the performances of Prithviraj and Parvathy, cinematography, costumes, sound and music department, but was critical about the screenplay, and rated 2.5 out of 5 stars. Asha Prakash of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' rated 2.5 out of 5 stars. She appreciated the performances of Prithviraj and Parvathy, visuals and music, but felt that the film had too much cinematic cliches. ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' reviewer Manoj Kumar R. had the impression that Jay's characterization was unconvincing and his "repugnant personality" was "sugarcoated" by the filmmaker. He rated 2 out of 5 stars. Sowmya Rajendran of ''

The News Minute ''The News Minute'' is an Indian digital news platform based in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was founded by Dhanya Rajendran, Chitra Subramaniam and Vignesh Vellore in 2014. Apart from Karnataka, it also has bureaus in the states of Telangana, And ...

'' praised Prithviraj and Parvathy's performances, at the same time, said the characters suffer from unequal writing. The film was a box-office bomb.

References

External links

* *{{facebook, MyStoryMovieOfficial 2018 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films shot in Portugal Indian romance films 2018 romance films Films set in Portugal Films scored by Shaan Rahman