''Sufiyum Sujatayum'' () is a 2020 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 romantic drama film written and directed by Naranipuzha Shanavas, and produced by

Vijay Babu Vijay Babu (born 14 May 1976) is an Indian film producer, actor, and businessman, who works in the Malayalam film industry. He is the founder of the film production company Friday Film House. Vijay Babu is best known for producing and starrin ...

under his production company

Friday Film House Friday Film House is an Indian film production company based in Malayalam film industry owned by Vijay Babu who is an actor as well as a producer and is one of the most talked about production houses in the south. Friday Film House has won 7 o ...

. The film stars

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 ...

, Aditi Rao Hydari and Dev Mohan in lead roles. It was released on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on 3 July 2020.

Plot

Sujata ( Aditi Rao Hydari) is introduced as a mute single daughter of Mallikarjunan ( Siddique) and Kamala ( Kalarenjini). She is also a talented

Kathak Kathak ( hi, कथक; ur, کتھک) is one of the eight major forms of Indian classical dance. It is the classical dance from of Uttar Pradesh. The origin of Kathak is traditionally attributed to the traveling bards in ancient northern Ind ...

dancer. Sujata is from a Hindu family. One day Sujata meets

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

(Dev Mohan) on a bus. Sufi is a

whirling dervish The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jala ...

and a Muslim scholar who returns after an expedition to meet his

Ustad Ustād or ostād (abbreviated as Ust., Ut. or Ud.; from Persian ) is an honorific title used in West Asia, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is used in various languages such as Persian, , Azerbaijani, Urdu, Hindi, Bengali, Marat ...

. There he loses his

misbaha A ''Misbaha'' ( ar, مِسْبَحَة, misbaḥa), ''subḥa'' ( ar, سُبْحَة, links=no) (Arabic, Kurdish and Urdu), ''tasbīḥ'' ( ar, تَسْبِيح, links=no) (Iran, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan), or ''tesp ...

(prayer beads), which Sujatha returns to him. Later, one day Sufi gifts his misbaha to Sujata, which was a gift from his mother. Soon after, they fall in love and decide to elope. Instead, her father marries her off to a well-to-do NRI Rajeev (

), in Dubai. Bearing in mind that interfaith relationships are claimed by the Hindu Nationalists as fraudulent

Love Jihad Love jihad (also known as Romeo Jihad) is an Islamophobic conspiracy theory developed by proponents of Hindutva. The conspiracy theory purports that Muslim men target Hindu women for conversion to Islam by means such as seduction, feigning l ...

, Sujata's father argues with Ustad about the consequences of Love. Five years later, she thinks that love is lost.

returns to the village after ten years. Ustad is no more. Sufi visits his grave at the mosque cemetery.

Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

(

Mamukkoya Mamukkoya (born 5 July 1946) is an Indian actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema, and has also appeared in French film ''Flammens of Paradise''. He has mostly appeared in comedic roles. His unique usage of the Mappila dialect and style mar ...

) finds him there and invites him inside. Sufi gives out the

call to prayer A call to prayer is a summons for participants of a faith to attend a group worship or to begin a required set of prayers. The call is one of the earliest forms of telecommunication, communicating to people across great distances. All religions ...

and gathers people. Unfortunately, he dies during that prayer. Sujata is devastated by the news of Sufi's death. Her husband Rajeev decides to bring her back to the village to attend the burial. They reach the funeral only after Sufi's body is in the process of burial. However, Rajeev pays a visit at the grave, since females aren't allowed inside. Later that evening, Rajeev realizes that he has lost his

passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...

. After searching for it everywhere, he concludes that it could've fallen from his pocket into the grave. Rajeev and his father-in-law Mallikarjunan decide to unearth the grave, together with their tenant Kumaran. But the trio ends up bickering with one another when they can't find anything. Meanwhile, Sujatha arrives there with the passport, which she had hidden so she could return the misbaha, once the grave is unearthed. They return to Dubai and stop fighting.

Cast

as P.R Rajeev, Sujata's Husband * Aditi Rao Hydari as Sujata, Rajeev's Wife * Dev Mohan as Sufi, Sujata's old Lover * Siddique as Mallikarjunan, Sujata's Father *

Salman Hassan *

Hareesh Kanaran Hareesh Perumanna , known by his stage name Hareesh Kanaran, is an Indian comedian and film actor who appears in Malayalam films. He is best known for his stock character Jaliyan Kanaran which first appeared in ''Comedy Festival'', a comedy r ...

as Ashokan, Taxi Driver * Madhumohan Kuttamparambath * Kalarenjini as Kamala, Sujata's Mother *

Valsala Menon Valsala Menon (born 1945) is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam films. She has acted in over 200+ films. Currently she is active in Malayalam television serials. Early life Valsala Menon was born in 1945 to Raman Menon and Devakiyamma in ...

as Sujata's Grandmother *

Manikandan Pattambi Manikandan Pattambi ( ml, മണികണ്ഠൻ പട്ടാമ്പി) is an Indian television, stage, and film actor. He's best known for his roles in Malayalam television. He became famous for his character ''Sathyasheelan'' in the si ...

as Kumaran * Swami Shoonya as Ustad Aboob *Lohan Balan as Moosakka * Priya Sunny as Airhostess

Music

The

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

were composed by

M Jayachandran Madhusoodanan Jayachandran is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he wo ...

. The soundtrack runs for over nineteen minutes and has seven tracks; sung by Sudeep Palanad, Nithya Mammen, and

Amrutha Suresh Amrutha Suresh (born 2 August 1990) is an Indian singer, composer, songwriter, and radio jockey. She attained popularity after her stint at the reality television singing competition ''Idea Star Singer'' on Asianet in 2007. Since then, she has ...

. Manoj Yadav and B. K. Harinarayanan were the lyricists.

Awards and nominations

Release

''Sufiyum Sujatayum'' was released on

on 3 July 2020. It was originally scheduled for a theatrical release, but due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, it went straight to an OTT release. It is the second Malayalam film to have a direct OTT release after Fourth River.

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan is an Indian film critic, writer, and formerly the deputy editor of ''The Hindu''. He later became a senior editor of Film Companion. Rangan won the National Film Award for Best Film Critic in 2006. Before joining ''The Hindu' ...

of Film Companion South described it as a classy romance that is too restrained and keeps viewers at arm's length.

References

External links

* {{Friday Film House Films not released in theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020 films 2020s Malayalam-language films Amazon Prime Video original films Indian interfaith romance films Films shot in Karnataka Films shot in Kozhikode Films shot in Palakkad Films scored by M. Jayachandran 2020 direct-to-video films 2020 romantic drama films Films set in the United Arab Emirates