''Ajagajantharam'' () is a 2021 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

-language

action adventure Action-adventure game is a video game genre that combines elements of action and adventure games. Action-adventure may also refer to: * Action-adventure fiction, a hybrid of the action and adventure genres * Action-adventure film, a hybrid of the ...

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

directed by

Tinu Pappachan Tinu Pappachan, is an Indian film director who works in Malayalam cinema industry. He is known for his debut film '' Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil'' (2018). He was born in kottarakara . He has previously assisted Lijo Jose Pellissery Lij ...

and written by Kichu Tellus and Vineeth Vishwam. It stars

Antony Varghese Antony Varghese, also known by his screen name Pepe is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his debut in 2017 through the film '' Angamaly Diaries''. Personal life Antony Varghese was born in Angamaly, Kerala to Varghese a ...

Arjun Ashokan Arjun Ashokan (24 August 1993) is an Indian actor working in the Malayalam film industry. He is the son of the actor Harisree Ashokan. He played supporting roles in his career with notable performances in '' Parava, B. Tech, June,'' '' Vara ...

, and

Sabumon Abdusamad Sabumon Abdusamad, also known mononymously as Sabumon and Sabu, is an Indian actor and television presenter who works in Malayalam cinema. He was the winner of the first season of Malayalam ''Bigg Boss''. Education and early career Sabu hails ...

. The music was composed by Justin Varghese, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Jinto George and

Shameer Muhammed Shameer Muhammed is an Indian film editor and producer predominantly working in Malayalam cinema. He was an alumnus of Chethana Media Institute, Thrissur. He worked as a spot editor in several movies and his debut as an independent editor was ' ...

. ''Ajagajantharam'' was scheduled to release on 26 February 2021, but was postponed due the second wave of

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The film was later released on 23 December 2021 and emerged as a commercial success at the box office. The film was 2021 year of sixth highest grossing malayalam film

Plot

Lali and Ambi are

mahouts A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retainin ...

living in the village of Aranjali, where most of the youth and middle-aged villagers consumes alcohol, substances and are egoistic. Lali and Ambi supply an elephant named Neysseri Parthan for the temple festival, where they get a bit uninhibited and carries on themselves with high ego. Kannan, an unemployed youth, and his friends tries to be a bit brash and bumptious with them due to a small disagreement. Lali kicks Kannan for being in his face for long and also thrashes Kannan's friend Vinu. Enraged, Kannan and his friends decide to exact revenge and plans a full scale mayhem in the festival to kill Lali and Ambi. The mayhem ensues and Kannan and his friends attacks Lali and Ambi, but Lali and Ambi fights Kannan and his men with Parthan's help. They finally escape from the festival and return to their home.

Cast

as Lali *

as Kannan * Kichu Tellus as Ambi *

as Kachamber Das * Vineeth Vishwam as Vinu *

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 Sony *

Sudhi Koppa Sudhi Koppa is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his cinematic debut in 2009 with an uncredited appearance in '' Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded'' (2009). Personal life Sudhi hails from Kochi. His father, who was a government ...

as Pindy *

Tito Wilson Tito Wilson is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He made his debut in the 2017 film '' Angamaly Diaries'' in which he played the role of U-Clamp Rajan. Personal life Tito Wilson was born in Thrissur, Kerala, to a middle class f ...

as Kottappuram Surendran *

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 Committee President * Bitto Davis as Pottachira Hari * Vijilesh Karayad as Eden *

Lukman Avaran Lukman Avaran (born 22 May 1990) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Malayalam cinema. His debut film is '' Dayom Panthrandum'' (2013) was the first theatre-released film in his career. Lukman acted the lead role in the film '' Operation J ...

as Thara * Sinoj Varghese as Joly * Sree Renjini as Meera *

Chemban Vinod Jose Chemban Vinod Jose (born 24 May 1976) is an Indian actor, film producer and screenwriter, who predominantly works in Malayalam films. He is a physiotherapist by profession.cameo appearance A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking on ...

) * Nandakkal Unnikrishnan (Elephant) as Neysseri Parthan

Production

Antony Varghese and Tinu Pappachan had earlier collaborated in the latter's debut directorial ''

Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil ''Swathanthryam Ardharathriyil'' (also spelt ''Swathandriam Ardharathriyil'') () is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or r ...

''. The film's title ''Ajagajantharam'' was given by

Lijo Jose Pellissery Lijo Jose Pellissery (born 18 September 1978) is an Indian filmmaker and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. His best works include ''Amen'' (2013), '' Angamaly Diaries'' (2017), '' Ee.Ma.Yau.'' (2018), ''Jallikattu'' (2019), '' Churuli'' (202 ...

, while the story has been written by Kichu Tellus and Vineeth Vishwam. It was produced by Emmanuel Joseph and Ajith Thalapilliy. The soundtrack and background score were composed by Justin Varghese. Jinto George is the cinematographer while

and Arjun Kallingal served as the editor and photographer.

Music

Track listing

Original Soundtrack

Release

The film was initially scheduled to be released on 26 February 2021, but was postponed due to

. It was finally released on 23 December 2021, coinciding with

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

weekend.

Home media

The satellite and digital rights of the film were sold to

SonyLIV Sony LIV is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Culver Max Entertainment. Sony LIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it provides live sports, origina ...

and

Surya TV Surya TV is an Indian Malayalam language Indian general entertainment pay television channel owned by Sun TV Network. which is headquartered at Kochi. Surya TV HD became the third Malayalam language high-definition channel. Current broadcas ...

Reception

''Ajagajantharam'' received positive reviews from critics with praise for its action sequences, acting, cinematography and technical aspects, but criticized its "wafer-thin" story.

Critical response

Sajin Shrijith of ''

The New Indian Express ''The New Indian Express'' is an Indian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper published by the Chennai-based Express Publications. It was founded in 1932 as ''The Indian Express'', under the ownership of Chennai-based P. Varadarajulu Naidu ...

'' gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "Like his mentor

, Tinu Pappachan proves once again that he is one of the few filmmakers in Malayalam cinema right now supremely adept at staging chaos." Akshay Krishna of ''

OTTplay HT Media is an Indian mass media company based in Delhi. It has holdings in print, electronic and digital media. HT Media's flagship newspaper is the ''Hindustan Times'', the second most widely read English newspaper in India after ''The Times of ...

'' gave 3.5/5 stars and wrote "''Ajagajantharam'' is a film that offers impeccable, grounded and realistic action scenes that can be best enjoyed in a theatre." Anna Mathews of ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...

'' gave 2.5/5 stars and wrote "Ajagajantharam seems purely a movie for the sake of stunts and there is hardly the slightest sliver of a story holding together the fight sequences." 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 was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' wrote "The tasteful manner in which some of the action sequences are staged often makes us forget all our million grouses with Tinu Pappachan's film." Tony Mathew of '' Onmanorama'' termed it as "a power-packed action feast" and wrote "This is exactly the dose of high voltage fun you needed right now."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=11718902 2021 action films Indian action thriller films Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Ottapalam 2020s Malayalam-language films