''Puthiya Mukham'' () is a 2009 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

action thriller film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...

directed by

Diphan Diphan (1970 13 March 2017) was an Indian film director who worked in Malayalam films. He was best known as the director of Blockbuster ''Puthiya Mukham'', released in 2009 and starring Prithviraj Sukumaran. He was the son of the dubbing artist ...

and written by M. Sindhuraj. 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 ...

, Bala,

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 ...

and

Meera Nandan Meera Nandan is an Indian actress who appears mainly in Malayalam films. She also appeared in a few Tamil and Telugu films. Early life Meera Nandan was born as Meera Nandakumar on 26 November 1990 as the daughter of Nandakumar and Maya at P ...

. It was shot at locations 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 ...

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

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

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

.The film's original background score and the soundtrack were composed by

Deepak Dev Deepak Devraj Komath (born 30 April 1978), better known as Deepak Dev, is an Indian music composer, best known for his compositions in Malayalam cinema. He started his career in the Film Industry through the movie ''Chronic Bachelor'' (2003) di ...

. The film was a major commercial success at the box office and was noted for heightening the stardom of Prithviraj in the

Malayalam film industry Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, '' Elippathayam ...

. It was dubbed in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

with the same name, and was remade in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''

Ziddi ''Ziddi'' may refer to: * ''Ziddi'' (1948 film), a Hindi film * ''Ziddi'' (1964 film), a film by Pramod Chakravorty * ''Ziddi'' (1973 film), a Pakistani film in Punjabi language * ''Ziddi'' (1997 film), an Indian action film starring Sunny Deol and ...

''. This film also has a Telugu dubbed version under the title ''Yama Mudhuru''.

Plot

Krishnakumar aka Kichu is a resident of an

agraharam An ''Agraharam'' or ''Agrahara'' was a grant of land and royal income from it, typically by a king or a noble family in India, for religious purposes, particularly to Brahmins to maintain temples in that land or a pilgrimage site and to susta ...

in Kalpathy. Along with his studies, he pursues a career as a percussionist and teaches the

mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is the ...

to local students. He is in love with Sreedevi, who is the daughter of Kichu's family friend, and their relationship is supported by both families. Kichu moves to the city of

(

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...

) to enroll in an engineering college. Sudhi is a senior student and the youngest of two gangster brothers Mahi and Giri. Sudhi pursues a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

business and crimes associated with it. In all his endeavours on the campus, Sudhi is supported by his brothers. Anjana, SI Shivaraman's daughter joins the engineering college. Sudhi is in love with her, and to win her love, plays the gentleman role, concealing and temporarily stopping all his

illegal activities In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

. Kichu wins the heart of everyone in the college. Sudhi suspects that Anjana is attracted to Kichu, so he moves fast and sends his brothers with an official proposal to Anjana's family. They accept the proposal and force the reluctant Anjana to agree. However, she stipulates a condition: there will be no marriage immediately. Sudhi has to wait for four years for the marriage; she will have freedom for these four years. The ''freedom'' of Anjana and the way she exercises it makes Sudhi jealous and suspicious. Sudhi wants to scare Kichu out of the college. He arranges an attack on him at the college hostel and assaults him; as a result, Kichu is severely wounded and apparently receives a blow on his head, Kichu appears to turn mad and attacks his own friend who tried to rescue him where he is admitted in a hospital and a doctor reveals that Kichu is suffering from a flashback phenomenon. When Kichu was young, he had witnessed the death of his younger brother, who was hit by a bus and traumatic incidents like this will turn him violent. Sreedevi's family disapproves of the marriage following this. His own family does not want him to go to college anymore, but his father supports him, urges him to go back and achieve something in life. Kichu comes to college where he thrashes up Sudhi and his friends and warns him. Sudhi's brothers turn in for help. Kichu sends the eldest brother, Mahi, to the hospital, mortally wounded. He is put in the ICU for observation and is reportedly in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to respond normally to painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal wake-sleep cycle and does not initiate voluntary actions. Coma patients exhi ...

. Shivaraman (who is in cahoots with Mahi and Giri) arrests Kichu and takes him to the police station. Here, Kichu learns that he is going to be transported to the sub-jail where his execution is planned. Kichu turns violent and storms the police station. He is hit by a policeman from behind and apparently falls unconscious, but it is only a ruse. He is rushed to the hospital, where he escapes from the police. Sudhi kidnaps Anjana and a final showdown ensues at an abandoned construction site where a heated argument and close-combat ensues which leads to Sudhi's death and Kichu walks away with Anjana, who has now fallen for Kichu.

Cast

as Krishnakumar Aiyyar aka Kicha * Bala as Sudhi *

as Anjana Sivaraman *

as Sreedevi *

Oviya Helen Nelson, (born 29 April 1991) better known professionally by her stage name Oviya, is an Indian model and actress who works in the Tamil and Malayalam films. She made her breakthrough as an actress in Sarkunam's rural romantic comedy ' ...

as Meera *

Sudheesh Sudheesh (born 7 December 1972) is an Indian actor and director from Calicut who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry. He won Kerala State Film Awards for Best Character Actor in 2021. Personal life Sudheesh is the only son of T. S ...

as Varghese *Vishnu Priyan as Venki *

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 decad ...

as Fr. Thekkan *

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 Menon *

Shobha Mohan Shobha Mohan is an Indian actress known for her works, predominantly in Malayalam cinema along with few Tamil films. Biography Shobha Mohan was born to actor Kottarakara Sreedharan Nair and Vijayalakshmi at Kottarakkara in Kollam, Kerala. She ...

as Savithri *

Vijayaraghavan Vijayaraghavan (born 20 December 1951) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is popular for his character roles. He is the son of popular drama and cinema artist N. N. Pillai. He got his break by playing the icon ...

as Shivaraman * Sai Kumar as Mahi *

Shammi Thilakan Shammi Thilakan is an Indian actor and dubbing artist who is active in Malayalam films. He is the son of veteran actor Thilakan. He lent his voice for Napoleon in ''Devasuram'', Prem Nazir in ''Kadathanadan Ambadi'' and for Nassar in ''Ghaza ...

as Giri *

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar (born 12 June 1955) known mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, television presenter and former politician. He has starred in over 375 Malayalam films and 2 Hindi films. He is best known for his comi ...

as Harishankar *

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 Vanaja *

Guinness Pakru Ajay Kumar (born 31 August 1976), popularly known as Guinness Pakru, is an Indian actor. He has made an entry into the Guinness World Records for being the shortest actor () to play a character in a full-length film. He played the lead role i ...

as Canteen Rajan *

Jaffar Idukki Jaffar Idukki is an Indian actor, impressionist, and comedian, who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. Started his career with the 2007 film ''Kaiyoppu'', he has acted in about hundred films and has performed in a number of comedy sta ...

as Canteen Suni *

Thara Kalyan Thara Kalyan (born 1 November 1967) is an Indian classical dancer and actress in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in mainstream Malayalam films, telefilms and television serials. She is also a professional dancer in Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, ...

as Anjana's aunt * Manka Mahesh as Bharathi, Anjana's mother *

Kalaranjini Kalaranjini is an Indian actress and classical dancer who started her career in the early 1980s. Personal life Kalaranjini was born to theatre artists Chavara V. P. Nair and Vijayalakshmi. She is divorced and has a son, Prince. Partial film ...

as Mahi's wife *

Kalashala Babu Kalasala Babu (1950 14 May 2018) was an Indian actor who performed on stage, and in television serials and films. On stage Babu had been acting in radio plays while at college. Following his graduation in 1973, Babu acted in ''Paanchajanyam ...

as Sreenivasan *

Anil Murali Anil Murali (12 April 1964 – 30 July 2020) was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 200 films. He started out in the film industry as a villain before later taking on character roles. He died on 30 July 2020, as a re ...

as Sandeep, Sreedevi's brother *

Seema G. Nair Seema G. Nair (born 21 May 1968) is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and Malayalam Television, TV series. She has won the Kerala state television award for best actress in 2014 for the telefilm ''Moksham''. Biography Both Nair a ...

as Sudhi's kin *

Chali Pala Chalil Baby better known as Chali Pala is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam movies. He handles character roles and supporting roles in Malayalam films. Biography He is born at Thiruvananthapuram on 28 Sep 1957. He debuted in Iyer the Gr ...

as Ex-MLA Vishwambaran *

Dinesh Panicker Dinesh Panicker is an Indian film producer, actor and TV producer. He entered the film industry in 1989 by producing '' Kireedam'', a critically acclaimed and commercially successful film. He went on to produce different genre films in Mollywoo ...

as Doctor Shanavas * Surabhi Lakshmi as Rohini *Joy John Antony as Kuruvila

Music

''Puthiya Mukham'' is the

soundtrack album A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs'' ...

composed by

with song lyrics by

Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri 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 Kannet ...

for the 2009 Malayalam film of the same name. The album features five tracks released on 24 July 2009 by

Satyam Audios Satyam Audios is an Indian music company headquartered at Kochi, Kerala. The greatest stage is not the one where we perform, rather it is for those who create, shape, and mold to form a piece of music. Satyam audios are one of the leading musi ...

. The original background score and film's soundtrack is composed by

with lyrics by

. It features five songs which were sung by

himself for one song and

Shankar Mahadevan Shankar Mahadevan (born 3 March 1967) is an Indian singer and composer who is part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio that writes music for Indian films. Personal life and early career Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chembur, Mumbai into a Tami ...

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 ...

, Prithviraj, KK,

Shilpa Rao Shilpa Rao (born Apeksha Rao; 11 April 1984) is an Indian singer born and raised in Jamshedpur. She completed her Post Graduation in Applied Statistics from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, before working as a jingle singer for three years. During ...

, Sindhu Rajaram and Suvi.

won the Best Singer award for the song "Picha Vecha Naal" at the Annual Malayalam Movie Awards. At the 2009

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both artis ...

received the Best Music Director Award for his songs in the movie, while

won the Best Male Playback Singer Award for the song "Picha Vecha Naal". "Picha Vecha Naal" (

) and "Thattum Muttum Thalam" (

, Sindhuja) were chart toppers on Malayalam television/radio stations.

Box office

''Puthiya Mukham'' mostly received positive reviews, with praise on the film's cast performance (especially Prithviraj and Bala's performance), music and screenplay. However, The film's technical mistakes received criticism. However, The film was a massive commercial success.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2009 films 2000s Malayalam-language films 2009 action films Indian action films Malayalam films remade in other languages Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Malaysia Films directed by Diphan