''Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum'' () is a 2023 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 adventure-comedy-drama film directed by Akhil Sathyan in his directorial debut. The film stars Fahadh Faasil in the

titular role The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...

, along with

Anjana Jayaprakash Anjana Jayaprakash is an Indian actress, who has appeared in Tamil and Malayalam language films. She had acted in several short films in lead roles and a few supporting roles in feature films, before making her breakthrough appearing in the blo ...

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...

, Innocent, Vineeth, and

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 ...

. It is produced by Sethu Mannarkkad under the banner of Full Moon Cinema. The film was released on 28 April 2023 and received critical positive response from critics and audiences and was a commercial success. This movie is noted as one of the last movie did by Innocent.

Plot

Prasanth alias Pachu owns an ayurveda

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

store/clinic in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

. He is unmarried due to past rejections, and he must return to his hometown in

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

for business. While attending a wedding with his father, Rajan, in his hometown, Pachu becomes infatuated to a woman. Rajan's friend suggests a proposal, and they visit her house. However, Pachu ends up in the hospital, missing his flight back to Mumbai. Riyas, the building owner of Pachu's store, asks him to travel to Mumbai by train with his elderly mother, Laila, fondly called Ummachi for company. Pachu agrees, and they board the train. On the train, they encounter a young boy Ashwin traveling alone to Mumbai. During the night, Laila mistakenly gets off the train at Karmali, Goa. Pachu realizes Laila is missing and follows her off the train, along with Ashwin who believes they have arrived in Mumbai. When Pachu confronts Laila, she sprays pepper at him and Ashwin before leaving the station. Pachu discovers that Laila has gone to Hamsadhwani's house. He calls Riyas, who rushes to retrieve his mother. Once Laila is found, they all prepare to fly back to Mumbai, where she apologizes for her unusual behavior. Laila shares the story of Nidhi, the daughter of their maid Geeta. Laila had taken care of Nidhi's education until the maid sent her back to Goa to work as a maid. Determined to rescue her, Laila disembarks in Goa and goes to Hamsadhwani's house, where Nidhi is employed and through whom Nidhi called Laila. In the present, Laila offers Pachu ownership of his ayurveda store if he can bring back Nidhi. Pachu agrees and sets off to find Nidhi at Hamsadhwani's house. Upon discovering Nidhi's location, Pachu faces a beating and robbery from her brother Savio, a thug and his friends. He recovers his belongings, waits for the opportune moment, and plans an escape with Nidhi. Meanwhile, Pachu grows closer to Hamsadhwani, assisting her in ending a toxic relationship with her boyfriend. Riyas, who was once opposed to Laila's decision, now supports her in bringing Nidhi back. He keeps his recovered items a secret to spend more time with her. Savio discovers their escape plan and takes Nidhi. Hamsadhwani learns about Pachu's recovered items, leading to complications in their relationship. Pachu makes another attempt to save Nidhi and fight off Savio and his friends. They try to kill Pachu and Nidhi but her grandfather defends them, allowing her to leave with Pachu. Afterwards, Hamsadhwani and Pachu reconciles. Both travel to Kerala to reunite her with Laila. During his

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

journey back to Mumbai, Pachu disembarks at Karmali to meet Hamsadhwani.

Cast

* Fahadh Faasil as Prasanth 'Pachu' Rajan,

Pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

as Hamsadhwani *Dhwani Rajesh as Nidhi, Geeta's daughter *Viji Venkatesh as Laila (Ummachi), Riyas's mother *

as Rajan, Pachu's father * Innocent as Vasu, Rajan's friend * Vineeth as Riyas, Laila's son *

as Raveendran 'Ravi' *Althaf Salim as Sujith *

Abhiram Radhakrishnan Abhiram Radhakrishnan (born September 1985) is an Indian actor from Kerala, who works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He started his career as an assistant director and debuted as an actor in 2015 with the film ''Chandrettan Evideya''. As ...

as Peter, Riyas's driver * Shanthi Krishna as Anitha Rajan, Pachu's mother *

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 Pradeep, Vasu's friend *Avyukth Menon as Ashwin (Chottu), Arun's elder brother *Chhaya Kadam as Nani *Piyush Kumar as Savio, Nidhi's brother *Govind Pai as Loki * Remya Suresh as Sulochana, Riyas' house helper at

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 ...

*Veena Nair as Dr. Alice *

Srikant Murali Srikant Murali (also spelt Srikanth Murali) is an Indian actor, director and ad filmmaker. He has been in Malayalam movies such as Home(2021), Aby (2017), Virus (2019) and Action Hero Biju (2016). As an ad filmmaker Srikant has created materi ...

as Jose *Dilina Ramakrishnan as Saira, Riyas's Wife *Jain K Paul as

Panjim Panaji (; also known as Panjim) is the capital of the Indian state of Goa and the headquarters of North Goa district. Previously, it was the territorial capital of the former Portuguese India. It lies on the banks of the Mandovi river estuary ...

Sub Inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police, is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which is primarily based on the British model. It was formerly used in most British col ...

Lokesh Naik *

Sanju Sivram Sanju Sivram is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam cinema, who made his debut in 2013 movie Nee Ko Njaa Cha. He is best known for his roles in ''Nee Ko Njaa Cha'' (2013), 1983 (2014), ''Hello Namasthe'' (2016). He made his ...

as Vivek, Hamsadhwani's fiancée *

Mohan Agashe Mohan Agashe (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian psychiatrist and actor. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1996 in theatre. Early life Agashe was born in Bhor, Maharashtra. He studied in B. J. Medical College, Pune for his MBBS an ...

as Nana, Nidhi's grandfather *Devika Daftardar as Geeta, Nidhi's mother *Sonia Giri as Latha, Pradeep's wife *

Naslen K. Gafoor Naslen K. Gafoor (born 11 June 2000) is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam Cinema, Malayalam films. He is best known for his roles in the films ''Thanneer Mathan Dinangal'' (2019), ''Kuruthi'' (2021), ''Home (2021 film), Home'' (2021), '' ...

in a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

as Arun, Ashwin's elder brother *

Ahaana Krishna Ahaana Krishna (born 13 October 1995) is an Indian actress, who appears primarily in Malayalam films and in ad films. She made her cinematic debut as lead heroine in Rajeev Ravi's ''Njan Steve Lopez'' in 2014 opposite to Farhaan Faasil. Ear ...

in a

as Aishwarya 'Achu' Pradeep, Pradeep's daughter *

Shruti Ramachandran Shruti Ramachandran is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam cinema. She also co-wrote the "Ilamai Idho Idho" segment in the 2020 Tamil anthology film ''Putham Pudhu Kaalai''. In 2020, she won the Kerala State Film Award for ...

in a

as a Lady in Train *Anoop Sathyan as Man in Bus (cameo)

Production

Development

The title poster of the film was released in January 2021.

Filming

The

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 ...

comprised two schedules: the first in

and

, and the second 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 ...

and

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. The entire shooting wrapped in November 2022. Film noted debuted for the director. Later, the trailer was released.

Reception

Critical reception

This film received generally positive reviews from critics. Sajin Shrijith critic from ''

Cinema Express ''Cinema Express'' was an Indian Tamil-language entertainment fortnightly magazine published from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was a part of The New Indian Express Group, which also publishes ''Samakalika Malayalam Vaarika'' weekly as well as '' Din ...

'' gave 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated that "but not too syrupy, experience that would leave a smile on my face, and that's exactly what I got". Anna Mathews critic of ''

Times of india ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' wrote that "This is definitely a movie reminiscent of sweet 80s-90s films and one to watch with the family." and gave 3.5 out 5 stars. G. Ragesh critic of '' Onmanorama'' stated that "Avyukt Menon as the cute and funny little boy on his way back to Mumbai from Sabarimala was a joy.". A critic from ''

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 ...

'' wrote that "Overall, for those seeking a relaxed viewing experience this weekend, Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum is likely a satisfactory choice." and gave 2.5 stars out of 5

Box office

The film grossed around on its opening day from

. The total worldwide collection grossed around , with from Kerala and from overseas.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 13781128 2020s Malayalam-language films Indian adventure comedy-drama films Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Mumbai Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Goa 2023 directorial debut films 2023 films Films scored by Justin Prabhakaran