''Pathinettam Padi'' () is a

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

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 ...

coming of age Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can b ...

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-g ...

, written and directed by

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 produced by Shaji Nadesan under the banner of

August Cinema August Cinema is an Indian film production and distribution company based in Trivandrum. Formed in 2011, it was found by Shaji Nadesan, Santosh Sivan and Prithviraj Sukumaran. Later, actor Arya joined in 2015. In June 2017, Prithviraj announced ...

.The film features Chandunadh,Harisankar SG (main role)

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 ...

, Akshay Radhakrishnan, Ashwin Gopinath, Wafa Khatheeja Rahman and Arsha Baiju in the lead and

Mammootty 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 cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

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 ...

Arya Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...

, and

Unni Mukundan Unnikrishnan Mukundan (born 22 September 1987), commonly known as Unni Mukundan, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Telugu and Tamil films. Unni Mukundan made his acting debut with the Ta ...

in cameo roles. The film gained positive response. The film was released in theaters on 5 July 2019.

Plot

Students of two

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

s in

Trivandrum 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

that cater to different economical classes are in a tussle. While one set struggles for survival, the other is busy finding joy in drugs. The two groups keep finding reasons to mess with each other. Will they find the purpose of their lives amid the chaos?

Cast

*Ashwin Gopinath as Young Ashwin Vasudev *Akshay Radhakrishnan as Young Ayyappan *Ambi Neenasam as Attukal Suran *Sreechand Suresh as Young Ajith Nair/Aji *Aswathlal as Sakhavu Abhayan *Sumesh Moor as Ambotty *Sandeep Pradeep as Puthran *Vijeesh as Kombi *Sandeep as Don *Yadav Shashidhar *Sangeeth as Duke *

Chandunath G Nair Chandunath G. Nair, professionally credited as Chandhunadh, is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam cinema. Early life His father retired as a forest range officer and mother was a Hindi language professor at University of Kerala. Chandhu ...

as Joy Abraham Palakkal *Abhinand Girish as Abhi *Arsha Baiju as Devi *Wafa Khadeeja Rahman as Angel *Nakul Thampi as Sony *Adam as Screw George *Ashish Pillai as Godfrey *Harisankar SG as Tittumon *Ankit Harikrishnan as Kiran D *Fahim Safar as Ibru / Kunjikka *Jitin Puthanchery as Giri *Vishnu Vijayakumar as Priest *

Suraj Venjaramoodu Suraj Vasudevan (born 30 June 1976), professionally credited as Suraj Venjaramoodu, is an Indian actor, comedian, impressionist, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films, television and stage plays. He has acted in more than 2 ...

as Minister Kaniyapuram Narendran *

as Annie *

Saniya Iyappan Saniya Iyappan (born 20 April 2002) an Indian actress who works in Malayalam films and television shows. She is best known for her roles in the films ''Queen'' (2018) and ''Lucifer'' (2019). Career Saniya started her career in television, as a ...

as Saniya *

Biju Sopanam Biju Sopanam (born 4 January 1970) is an Indian television, theatre, and film actor. He is best known for portraying the character of Balachandran Thampi in the popular sitcom ''Uppum Mulakum'', broadcast on Flowers TV.' He made his movie debu ...

as Shalamon Abraham Palakkal * Mukundan as V Joseph *

Parvathi T. Parvathi T., also known as Maala Parvathi, is an Indian actress, who appears in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu films Personal life Parvathi was born in Thiruvananthapuram, to Adv C. V. Thrivikraman and gynaecologist Dr K. Lalitha. She complete ...

as Susan Abraham Palakkal *

Manoj K Jayan Manoj Kadampoothramadom Jayan also known as Manoj K.Jayan is an Indian actor of Malayalam and Tamil films. He has also done a few Telugu and Kannada films and has also acted in a Bollywood film. Manoj has won three Kerala State Film Award for Se ...

as Stanlin Moore *

Lalu Alex Lalu Alex is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema. In a career spanning four decades, Lalu Alex has acted over 250 movies and is known for his character roles, comic roles and antagonistic roles in Malayalam movie industry. Lalu Alex ...

as Nandhan Menon *

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 H.C Vijayan, Ayyappan's father *

Muthumani Muthumani Somasundaran is an Indian actress who mainly works in Malayalam films. She made her cinematic debut through the Malayalam film ''Rasathanthram'' directed by Sathyan Anthikkad's in 2006. Early life and education Muthumani was born in ...

as Ayyappan's mother, Teacher *

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.Dhanya Varma Dhanya Varma is an Indian journalist and talk show host currently hosting the Malayalam talk show ''The Happiness Project'', on Kappa TV. Personal life She hails from Thiruvalla. She is married to Cdr Vijay Varma, an officer in the Indian N ...

as Dhanu (Journalist) *Mithun Abraham as Captain Santhosh Kumar *Parvathy Prann as Paru *

as John Abraham Palakkal (Extended Cameo Appearance) *

as Ashwin Vasudev (Cameo Appearance) *

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Ayyappan, a Military officer(Cameo Appearance) *

as District Collector Ajith Nair IAS (Cameo Appearance) *

Priyamani Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (born 4 June 1984), known by her professional name Priyamani, is an Indian actress and former model, who works in the South Indian film industry. She is a recipient of Several Awards. Priyamani made her acting debut t ...

as Gouri Vasudev, Ashwin's sister (Cameo Appearance) *

Rajeev Pillai Rajeev Govinda Pillai is an Indian actor from Malayalam cinema. His acting debut was in the movie ''City of God (2011 film), City of God'' directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery (2011) where he played one of the heroes. His popularity further increa ...

as Monty's brother/Drug Lord (Cameo Appearance)

Production

Shooting began in January 2019 and movie was released in India on 5 July 2019.

Reception

Manoj Kumar R of ''

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 ...

'' gave 3.5 out of 5 and wrote - The film is crammed with characters and subplots that leave you overwhelmed. Is this the story about Ashwin Vasudev who overcame his flaws to build a school that challenges the conventional idea of education? Or is it the story of Ayyappan, who remembers his first love after taking a bullet near his chest in a gun battle at the border? Or it must be about students who abuse drugs? No wait, it is about Mammootty's John Abraham Palakkal taking on the flawed educational system? Actually, it’s about everything and everyone. It is just too much. The background score of the film is also so confusing as it is hard to tell the heroes from the villains. Even the bad guys get to deliver lengthy punchlines, walk in slow motion, and strike action poses. S R Praveen of ''

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 ...

'' called the movie an unrealistic depiction of student rivalry in schools and wrote - At the core of the film is the long-standing rivalry between student gangs belonging to two schools in

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. It is the kind of rivalry which seems quite unreal for school students, even in a ''masala'' entertainer, mainly due to the level of violence involved. Notwithstanding the fact that some of these stylized stunts are aesthetically shot or well-choreographed, these scenes don’t belong in a movie about school students. Similarly, the five-star hangouts of the international school students, complete with an 'item song' also looks far removed from reality. The characters of the girls are relegated to the background, with hardly any of them getting a line or two to utter. Too many characters make their appearance, but only a couple of them are written with any depth to them. The whole bunch of newcomers do show promise, lighting up the screen with their infectious energy, even as the script, written by director Shanker Ramakrishnan himself, sags.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, tt7692434 2010s Malayalam-language films Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram 2019 films