''Palunku'' () is a 2006 Malayalam-language

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written and directed by

Blessy Blessy Ipe Thomas is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. He has won one National Film Award and six Kerala State Film Awards for his feature films '' Kaazhcha'' (2004), '' Thanmathra'' (2005), and ''Pranayam' ...

. It stars Mammootty in the lead role with

Nazriya Nazim Nazriya Nazim (born 20 December 1994) is an Indian actress, producer and former television presenter who works predominantly in Malayalam films in addition to Tamil films. She has won One Filmfare Award South, one Kerala State Film Awards, a ...

making her on-screen debut through this film- along with

Lakshmi Sharma Lakshmi Sharma mononymously known as Lahari is an Indian actress. After debuting in Telugu cinema, where she failed to gain a foothold, she became an actress in Malayalam cinema, after entering the industry in 2006 with '' Palunku''. She has ac ...

, Baby Nivedita,

Kottayam Santha Kottayam Santha was an Indian actress and dubbing artist best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in more than 300 films. She had also acted in several TV serials like Valayam, Krishnakripasagaram etc. She dubbed for almost ...

and

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decades ...

playing other pivotal roles. Lakshmi Sharma made her debut as an actress with this film. The film exposes the trappings of consumerism and how city life changes the perspective and priorities of an ordinary farmer, Monichan (Mammootty). The film was mainly shot at various locations in

Muvattupuzha Muvattupuzha () is a town in the midlands directly to the east of Kochi in Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. It is located about from downtown Kochi, and is a growing urban centre in central Kerala. The town is also the starting po ...

and

Thodupuzha Thodupuzha (തൊടുപുഴ) is a municipal town located in Idukki district, Kerala, India, that covers an area of . It lies on the banks of Thodupuzha river, which merges with the Kaliyar and Kothamangalam rivers at Muvattupuzha to f ...

. It released on 22 December 2006."Of the ills of consumerism"
/ref> Mammootty won the Best Actor award at the Kerala Film Critics Awards and national award nomination.

Plot

''Palunku'' tells the story of an industrious farmer Monichan and his family, which consists of his wife Susamma, and his daughters Geethu and Neethu, whom he lovingly calls 'Ponnu' and 'Kilunthu'. Monichan is happy with his life as a farmer and loves his family, his profession, nature and the people around him. At a juncture in his life, he is forced to take his daughters to a school in the town, simply because the school in his village cannot accommodate his elder daughter, who is in fifth standard, as there are not enough students to run classes. Thus Geethu and Neethu join an English medium school. Monichan brings the children to school every morning and hangs around in town till evening to take them back. In the course of this routine, Monichan gets close to Soman Pillai, a shrewd lottery agent, who knows all kinds of short-cuts to earn money. Soman Pillai becomes Monichan's advisor. Monichan buys a bicycle and the father and the daughters now travel to town and back on the bicycle. In the meantime Monichan joins a class conducted for elders and starts learning to read and write Malayalam as well as English. A minor accident makes Monichan shift over to the town along with his family. Once in town, Monichan finds himself entrapped in a vicious circle. He, with the help of Soman Pillai, begins to tread down the wrong path - lending out money, and doing things not entirely above board. His life changes slowly. He is no longer the naive farmer he used to be. Even his wife has changed, spending her time watching soap operas on TV and dreaming about modern household amenities. But fate has something else in store for them. They lose their elder daughter Geethu because she was raped and killed by a seventeen-year-old boy. The courts punishes the boy by sending him to the juvenile jail. However Monichan is not satisfied. In the end, he realizes his mistakes and is shown to go back his ways as a farmer.

Cast

Mammooty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, H ...

as Monichan *

as Susamma *

as Geethu * Baby Nivedita as Neethu *

as Soman Pillai *

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 ...

as Teacher *Thampi Antony as Prof. Sukumaran Nair *

Santhakumari Santha Kumari (born Vellaala Subbamma; 17 May 1920 – 16 January 2006) was an Indian musical artist and actress. She was married to the Telugu film director and producer P. Pullayya. Early years Vellaala Subbamma was born in Proddatur town, ...

as Lalitha * Tony Sigimon as Alexander *

as Ammayi * Subair as Police Officer * Mahima * Vishnu Unnikrishnan as Asalappan.

Critical reception

A review by ''

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 ...

'' said, "''Palunku'' is a commendable attempt at portraying the changing attitude of the modern Malayali through the story of a small family of a husband, wife and two children. The family succumbs to the temptations of a modern lifestyle and gets down to making money. The movie realistically depicts how the craze for modernity and consumerist culture affects family values".

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the film was composed by

Mohan Sithara Mohan Sithara is an Indian music composer. He received the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Music Director (2009) for the songs in Priyanandan's ''Soofi Paranja Kadha''. Since 1986 he has been an active musician in the Malayalam film indust ...

with lyrics penned by

Kaithapram Padma Shri Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, popularly known as Kaithapram, is a Malayalam lyricist, poet, music director, actor, singer, screenwriter, music therapist and performer of Carnatic music. He debuted with the movie Ennennum K ...

. #"Maanathe Velli" - Dr. K. J. Yesudas #"Pottu Thotta" - P. Jayachandran,

Jassie Gift Jassie Gift is an Indian film music composer and playback singer. He composes songs and sings for Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. He became famous after the success of his song "Lajjavathiye" from the film ''4 The People''. He won ...

, Sheela Mani #"Ettuvatta Kettum" - G. Venugopal, Anwar Sadath #"Neruparayanam" -

Madhu Balakrishnan Madhu Balakrishnan is an Indian playback singer who sings in different languages Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada. Personal life Madhu Balakrishnan was born on 24 June 1974 to Balakrishnan and Leelavathy at Paravur, Eranakulam. His earlier ...

, Anu

References

External links

* {{Blessy 2000s Malayalam-language films 2006 drama films 2006 films Films directed by Blessy