''Punyam Aham'' is a 2010

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 film directed by

Raj Nair Raj Nair is an Indian author and filmmaker who writes in his native language Malayalam and English. Biography His first poem was published at the age of eleven followed by short stories and his first novel in the year 2000, ''Nishabdathayile ...

. Prithviraj,

Samvrutha Sunil Samvritha Sunil (born 31 October 1986) is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 2004 through the film ''Rasikan'' directed by Lal Jose before which she had also appeared as a junior artist in the film '' Ayal ...

and

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 ...

play the lead roles in this film.

Plot

''Punyam Aham'' is set in a small village in northern

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 protagonist is Narayan Unni, a young man with a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...

father and low-caste mother, who separated, leaving the mother to raise him alone. The film tells the story of Unni leaving home and searching for his identity, and then repeating many of his father's mistakes in life. It is based on the story in traditional

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

about

Naranath Bhranthan Naranath Branthan (The madman of ''Naranam'') is a character in Malayalam folklore. He was considered to be a divine person, a Mukhta who pretended to be mad. His chief activity consisted of rolling a big stone up a hill and then letting it fall ...

and his father

Vararuchi Vararuci (also transliterated as Vararuchi) () is a name associated with several literary and scientific texts in Sanskrit and also with various legends in several parts of India. This Vararuci is often identified with Kātyāyana. Kātyāyana is ...

Cast

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 ...

as Naarayanan Unni *

as Jayasree *

as Kaarackal Easwaran Namboodiri *

Nishanth Sagar Nishant Balakrishnan (born 8 June 1980), known professionally by his stage name Nishant Sagar , is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Malayalam film industry. He has performed in over 50 films as a hero, co-star and antagonist. Career ...

as Georgekutty *

Sona Nair Sona Nair (born 4 March 1975) is an Indian actress working mainly in Malayalam cinema who is also best known for roles in Soap opera, television soaps. Personal life Sona Nair attended Al-Uthuman Higher Secondary School, Kazhakoottam, Trivan ...

as Eldest Sister *

K. P. A. C. Lalitha Maheshwari Amma, better known by her stage name K. P. A. C. Lalitha, was an Indian film and stage actress who worked primarily in Malyalam. She started her acting career with K. P. A. C., a theatre collective in Kayamkulam, Kerala. In a caree ...

as Jayasree's Amma * M. R. Gopakumar as Pappanassar *

Sreejith Ravi Sreejith Ravi (born 19 May 1976) is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Malayalam films and also in Tamil films. He is the son of actor T. G. Ravi. Early life Sreejith is the son of actor and industrialist T. G. Ravi and V. K. Subhad ...

as Pankan *Sreekala VK as Narayanan's mother *Roselin *Binda as Younger sister

Production

''Punyam Aham'' was the directorial debut of

, the grandson of novelist

Thakazhi Shivashankara Pillai Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai (17 April 1912 – 10 April 1999), popularly known as Thakazhi after his place of birth, was an Indian novelist and short story writer of Malayalam literature. He wrote over 30 novels and novellas and over 7 shor ...

. Filming began in January 2009 at

Ottapalam Ottapalam, (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk and municipality in the Palakkad district, Palakkad District, Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ottapalam taluk. Ottapalam is located about 36 km from district head ...

, then shifted to

Kuttanad Kuttanad ( ml, കുട്ടനാട്‌) is a region covering the Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta Districts, in the state of Kerala, India, well known for its vast paddy fields and geographical peculiarities. The region has the lo ...

. It premiered at the

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India. It ...

in October 2010.

Critical reception

Paresh C. Palicha writing for Rediff Movies criticised the plot as "too intellectual".Rediff Movies: Punyam Aham is too intellectual
/ref>

References

External links

*

on OneIndia.in 2010 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films shot in Kannur Films shot in Thalassery Films shot in Kozhikode Films shot in Ottapalam Films shot in Alappuzha {{2010s-Malayalam-film-stub