''Paavada'' () is a 2016 Indian

comedy drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

film directed by G. Marthandan and written by

Bipin Chandran Bipin Chandran is an Indian writer and screenwriter from Kerala. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema and his debut film was ''Daddy Cool (2009 Malayalam film), Daddy Cool''. Biography Bipin Chandran was born in Ponkunnam, Kerala, India. H ...

, based on the story he co-wrote with Shibin Francis. The film is themed on the life of two alcoholics. It 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 ...

and

Anoop Menon Anoop Menon (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films. Menon won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supporting Ac ...

in lead roles along with Miya,

Asha Sarath Asha Sharath (born 19 July 1974) is an Indian actress and classical dancer, who predominantly works in Malayalam films and television shows and also has a few Tamil, Kannada and Telugu film credits. Personal life Asha is married to Sharath ...

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 ...

and

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.Aby Tom Cyriac Aby Tom Cyriac is an Indian composer, arranger and programmer. He is a well known music arranger and programmer to major music composers in the Indian film industry. Early life Aby Tom Cyriac was born in Kanjirappally, Kottayam, Kerala to Mr.C ...

and released under the label

Muzik 247 Muzik 247 based out of Chennai, acquires music rights for South Indian Cinema films, mainly Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu. The company was founded in 2012 by Naveen Bhandari, and has achieved a large market share of the Malayalam film music. About ...

. ''Paavada'' released on 15 January 2016. The film was a commercial success, grossing from the box office.

Synopsis

The film opens with a poem by

Faiz Ahmad Faiz Faiz Ahmad ''Faiz'' (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984; Urdu, Punjabi: فیض احمد فیض) was a Pakistani poet, and author of Urdu and Punjabi literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated Pakistani Urdu writers of his time. Out ...

. An alcoholic duo meet at a de-addiction center helps each other to arrange their lives back together with their persistent illness. Pambu Joy's married life is in a muddle due to his

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

. Pavada Babu's life is in pieces due to a film he produced in which Sicily, Joy's mother, was the heroine. For financial gain, the film was

adulterated An adulterant is caused by the act of adulteration, a practice of secretly mixing a substance with another. Typical substances that are adulterated include but are not limited to food, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fuel, or other chemicals, t ...

by his friend Eldho. Eldho intends to re-release the film's 3D extended version. Both Pambu Joy and Pavada Babu fights through their alcoholism to stop the re-release of the film due to the added pain that will cause for Babu and to Joy's mother Sicily forms the crux of the story.

Cast

as Joy Varghese (Pambu Joy) *

as Professor Babu Joseph (Paavada Babu) * Miya George as Sinimol, Joy's Wife *

as Sicily Varghese, Joy's Mother *

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.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 Ayyappan Pillai *

Kalabhavan Shajohn Shaji John, professionally credited by his stage name Kalabhavan Shajohn is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works primarily in Malayalam cinema. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, Kochi. Making his debut in 1999 ...

as Eldo Kunnanthanam *

Sharaf U Dheen Sharafudheen, professionally credited as Sharaf U Dheen, is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his acting debut in 2013 with ''Neram''. He got his breakthrough by portraying the role of ''Girirajan Kozhi'' in ''Premam'' (20 ...

as Vilakkoothi Rajan *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karamana, ...

as Priest *

Chemban Vinod Jose Chemban Vinod Jose is an Indian actor, film producer, and screenwriter, who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He is a physiotherapist by profession.Jayakrishnan Jayakrishnan (born 11 April 1974) is an Indian film and television actor known for his work in the Malayalam industry. Often regarded as Immortal Star JK by the Malayalam film fanatics for his unaging appearance for decades. He was introduced a ...

as Kallu Varkki, Joy's Father *

Manikuttan Thomas James better known by his stage name Manikuttan or 'MK', is an Indian actor who prominently works in the Malayalam film industry. He is known for his role as Kayamkulam Kochunni in the famous TV serial of the same title broadcast by Sur ...

as SI Suresh *

Kunchan Kunchan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Kunchan Nambiar Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the da ...

as Cleetus, Bar Manager *

Murali Gopy Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair Muralikrishnan (born 4 March 1972), professionally credited as Murali Gopy, is an Indian actor-screenwriter, producer, author, singer, lyricist, music composer and journalist. He has written critically acclaimed films ...

as Chandramohan * Saikumar as Joseph * Siddique as Advocate Anantharama Iyer *

Renji Panicker Renji Panicker (born 23 September 1960) is an Indian actor, scriptwriter, director, film producer, and journalist best known for his Malayalam films. He made his debut as a director with ''Bharatchandran IPS'' in 2005. Early life He did his ...

as Paul Scaria *

Anil Nedumangad Anil Nedumangad (also known as P. Anil; 30 May 1972 – 25 December 2020) was an Indian actor who appeared in Malayalam films. Acting career He made his debut in '' Thaskaraveeran'' with an uncredited appearance. His breakthrough was in the ...

as Chacko, Toddy Shop Drunker *Lakshmi Sanal as Sajini/Saleenamma *

Maala Parvathi 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 Mother Superior *

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 Advocate Kailash *

Sunil Sukhada Sunil Sukhada is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He debuted in a small role in the film '' Best Actor''. His first full length role was as the supermarket manager in '' Chappa Kurishu'' (2011). He won a special mention in the Kerala state ...

as Thevally Manoharan *Binu Adimaly as Police constable Sugathan *

Kalabhavan Haneef Kalabhavan Haneef is an Indian actor and mimicry artist in Malayalam cinema. He made his debut with the film, Sandesham (1991). Personal life Haneef started his mimicry activity while his schooling, later started his career as a sales person ...

as Varghese *

Dinesh Prabhakar Dinesh Prabhakar, also known by his birth name Dinesh Nair, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films. Early life Dinesh was born as the second child of Prabhakaran Nair and Sarojini Amma at Pulluvazhi, Perumbavoor, Ern ...

as Thattukada Kunjumon *Shaju as MLA's brother-in-law *Purushu as Ayyappan *

Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978) is an Indian actress, producer, classical dancer and playback singer who primarily appears in Malayalam language films. She is the recipient of several awards including one National Film Award, one Kera ...

as Babu's Fiancée (

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 ...

)

Production

Earlier,

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...

was approached for the role of Sicily, but the actress turned down the role as she was not willing to do mother role of Prithviraj, she was replaced by

. Actor

Jayasurya Jayasurya (born August 1978) is an Indian actor, distributor, Sponsor, Model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist, who works in the Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a N ...

has sung a song for the film, titled "Kuruthakkedinte Koodanu," composed by

Aby Tom Cyriac Aby Tom Cyriac is an Indian composer, arranger and programmer. He is a well known music arranger and programmer to major music composers in the Indian film industry. Early life Aby Tom Cyriac was born in Kanjirappally, Kottayam, Kerala to Mr.C ...

, which describes the character of Joy (Prithviraj). According to Maniyanpilla Raju, the film will have "a lot of twists".

Music

The film's songs are composed by

with lyrics written by B. K. Hari Narayanan. There are three songs and one is a promo song sung by

, K. G. Ranjith and Nedumudi Venu are the singers. The music was released through the label

. The audio music launch was held in a low profile event at

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 ...

in December 2015, the money generated from which went to Chennai flood victims' relief funds. Aby Tom Cyriac has sampled music from Indian ethnic genre of the early 80s and late 90s.

Release

Theatrical

''Paavada'' released on 15 January 2016.

Reception

Box office

''Paavada'' grossed approximately in the opening weekend from India

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

. The film's final gross collection is estimated as with a share of . It completed 100 days theatrical run in the state.

Critical response

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated that the movie does try to explain alcoholism as a way of dealing with helplessness and how it can ruin one's credibility.

Rediff.com Rediff.com (stylized as ''rediff.com'') is an Indian news, information, entertainment and shopping web portal. It was founded in 1996. It is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Bangalore, New Delhi and New York City. , it had more than 300 e ...

gave 3.5 out of 5: Bipin Chandran's screenplay discusses the ethical, moral and legal issues pertaining to such situations. There are elaborate court scenes that test our patience for two and a half hours. This is one of the fertile periods in Prithviraj's career and he makes it even better with this film. He has to be a breezily comic fellow in the first half that he does unpretentiously making this film yet another winner as far as his performance goes. He gets able support from Anoop Menon, Nedumudi Venu and Maniyanpilla Raju. Paavada can be called a decent effort only if we ignore the flaws. Indiaglitz rated 4 out of 5 and said The story, screenplay and dialogues by Bipin Chandran deserves credit. Director Marthandan could capture the essence of the story and deliver a good narration. Background score was conventional. Editing and cinematography were good with the editing being sharp and camera angles very effective, especially the dramatic part involving Prithviraj and the fight sequences. Performances from Prithviraj, Anoop Menon and Nedumudi were outstanding. Prithviraj has proved his range with this cinema as he lives as Joy onscreen. Anoop Menon holds his own in a demanding character. Miya was adorable as Joy's wife. "Paavada" is sure to stay around for a long time for its one-liners and humour.

References

External links

* * {{facebook, Pavada-771794169574615 2016 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Indian comedy-drama films Films about alcoholism Films about films 2016 comedy-drama films