''Pretham'' () is a 2016 Indian

Malayalam-language 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 d ...

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film, written, co-produced and directed by

Ranjith Sankar Ranjith Sankar is an Indian Filmmaker who works in Malayalam films. He started his movie career with the 2009 thriller film ''Passenger''. Sankar followed ''Passenger'' up with ''Arjunan Saakshi'' (2011),'' Molly Aunty Rocks'' (2012), '' Puny ...

. Starring

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 ...

Aju Varghese Aju Kurian Varghese (born 11 January 1985) better known as Aju Varghese is an Indian actor and producer who appears in Malayalam cinema. He made his debut in 2010 in '' Malarvadi Arts Club'', directed by his college classmate Vineeth Sreeniva ...

Govind Padmasoorya Govind Padmasoorya (born 16 June 1987), popularly known as GP is an Indian television presenter actor who works mainly in Malayalam cinema and a few Telugu films. He made his debut in the movie Atayalangal directed by M. G. Sasi. He is popular ...

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'' ( ...

Shruthi Ramachandran Shruti Ramachandran is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam cinema. She also co-wrote the "Ilamai Idho Idho" segment in the 2020 Tamil anthology film ''Putham Pudhu Kaalai''. In 2020, she won the Kerala State Film Award ...

Pearle Maaney Pearle Maaney ( /maːɳi/; born 28 May 1989) is an Indian actress, lyricist, YouTuber, and television presenter who works in Malayalam films. She is known for co-hosting three seasons of the Malayalam dance reality show '' D 4 Dance''. In 2018 ...

Dharmajan Bolgatty Dharmajan Bolgatty (born 1976) is an Indian actor, producer, comedian, politician and entrepreneur, who works in Malayalam films, television, and stage shows. He began his career as a comedian appearing in sketch comedies on stage, later forayed ...

, and

Hareesh Peradi Hareesh Peradi is an Indian actor who predominantly acts in Malayalam and Tamil films. Career He is also a well-known theatre artist in Kerala, having made a mark in stage and also in TV and cinema. Even though he has acted in 36 films so fa ...

in the prominent roles. It is co-produced by Sankar and Jayasurya. The film was a commercial success and in 2018 a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the sam ...

Pretham 2 ''Pretham 2'' () is a 2018 Indian Malayalam-language comedy horror drama film written, co-produced and directed by Ranjith Sankar. It is a sequel to the 2016 film '' Pretham''. Jayasurya returns for the lead role, alongside a new supportin ...

was released. It was

remade Bas-Lag is the fictional world in which several of English author China Miéville's novels are set. Bas-Lag is a world where both magic (referred to as "thaumaturgy") and steampunk technology exist, and is home to many intelligent races. It is in ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

under the title ''

Raju Gari Gadhi 2 ''Raju Gari Gadhi 2'' () is a 2017 Indian Telugu-language comedy horror film, produced by Prasad V. Potluri under PVP Cinema, Matinee Entertainment, OAK Entertainments banner, and directed by Ohmkar. It stars Nagarjuna Akkineni, Samantha Ruth ...

''. It is also the third collaboration of Sankar and Jayasurya after ''

Punyalan Agarbattis ''Punyalan Agarbattis'' () is a 2013 Indian Malayalam-language satirical comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Ranjith Sankar, starring Jayasurya, Nyla Usha, Aju Varghese, Rachana Narayanankutty, Innocent and Sreejith Ravi. The fil ...

'' and '' Su.. Su... Sudhi Vathmeekam''.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...

began in

Cherai Cherai ( ml, ചെറായി) smallest town located in north side of Vypin island. This town connects to kochin, North pravur and Kodungallur. It is a region in Kochi Taluk, a suburb of the city of Kochi, in the state of Kerala, India ...

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 ...

on 24 May 2016. The film was released on 12 August 2016. A sequel titled ''

'' was released in 2018.

Plot

Three young men — Denny Kokken (

), Priyalal (

), and Shibu Majeed (

) have been friends since college. Together, they work till they hit their 30s and start their own business that they can enjoy in a semi-retired manner. They get together and invest all their money in a resort in Kerala. However, their happy beginning is thwarted by paranormal activities and they approach John Don Bosco (

), a

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

who works as a

mentalist Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognitio ...

in cruise ships and entertainment industry. John Don Bosco also assists the police as a human lie detector with his cold reading techniques. John informs the three hoteliers that their resort is haunted by a ghost who is seeking answers as to who killed her, why was she killed and what did they gain from her death. Through his investigations John reveals that the ghost is of Clara who was a bright and intelligent student from National Law College. Amrita (The college principal's daughter) was jealous of Clara's popularity and the fondness of her father towards Clara. Amrita secretly films Clara's nude scenes while bathing (in the same resort owned by the three hoteliers) and leaks it online. Unable to bear the shame, Clara commits suicide. John brings justice to Clara by answering her questions. He asks Amrita to see Clara by touching his hand. She falls down in shock, cringing away from the ghost glaring at her. This proves her guilt beyond any doubts.

Cast

as John Don Bosco, a

Mentalist Mentalism is a performing art in which its practitioners, known as mentalists, appear to demonstrate highly developed mental or intuitive abilities. Performances may appear to include hypnosis, telepathy, clairvoyance, divination, precognitio ...

as Denny Kokken *

as Shibu *

as Priyalal *Sharanya Menon as Amritha *

as Clara (Spirit) *

as Suhaanisa *

as Yeshu *

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 te ...

*Sathi Premji as Mary a.k.a. Dakini *

as Priest * Devan as Principal of National Law College *

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 starri ...

as Comm.Akash Kurien *

Nyla Usha Nyla Usha Gopakumar is an Indian actress, television host, and radio jockey from Trivandrum, Kerala. After working for nearly a decade as an RJ at Hit 96.7 in Dubai, she made her acting debut in 2013 with ''Kunjananthante Kada''. Early life ...

as Maya Thomas *

Arya Rohit Arya Babu, also known by the stage name Arya Badai is an Indian actress, comedian, model, and television presenter, who appears in Malayalam films and television. She started her career in television and modelling industry. She is best known ...

as Shalini *

Biyon Byon V. K. (born 17 June 1982), professionally credited as Biyn, is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema. Early life and family Biyon was born in Kozhikode to Sivasankar VK and Beena K. Byon Completed his schooling at Presentation Hi ...

as Tony * Sini Abraham as Lecture of National Law College

Production

In 2000, Ranjith Sankar wrote the script for the TV serial, ''Nizhalukal'', "probably the first horror serial" to premiere on Malayalam television. Citing it as an inspiration for the film, he said, "(I) have thought of umpteen subjects to explore the genre in movies all these years before arriving on this. Pretham is a horror comedy," on his Facebook profile. Jayasurya played a

named John Don Bosco alongside

and

. Initially

Mamta Mohandas Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, film producer and a playback singer of Malayalam film industry, she has also worked in Tamil and Telugu productions. She has acted in more than 50 films and won several accolades including two Filmfare Awa ...

was considered for the lead role but didn't materialize. Justin Jose, known for his work in the Telugu film '' Baahubali: The Beginning'' and the Bollywood film ''

Bajrangi Bhaijaan ''Bajrangi Bhaijaan'' () is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Kabir Khan, based on an original story by screenwriter V. Vijayendra Prasad, and produced by Salman Khan, Rockline Venkatesh and Kabir Khan ...

'', did the

sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...

. The filming began on 24 May 2016 in the small town in

Music

Music:

Anand Madhusoodanan Anand Madhusoodanan is an Indian film score composer and screenwriter who is known for his works in Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. ...

Lyrics:

Rafeeq Ahamed Rafeeq Ahmed (born 17 December 1961) is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a five-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs in his c ...

Single

* Oruthikku Pinnil -

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor an ...

Release

''Pretham'' was released on 12 August 2016.

Box office

There was over 40% hike in collection from day 1 to day 2 at the Indian box office. The film grossed 6.7 crore in 3 days run. It remained in more than 185 screens in Kerala in its third week. The film grossed 18 crore in 23 days at the Indian box office. The film collected $4,650 from UK box office. The film collected from USA box office in its third weekend. The film was commercial success.

Sequel

Sequel of the film was titled ''

''. It was released on 21 December 2018 during Christmas season.

References

External links

* {{Ranjith Sankar Indian comedy horror films Films set in Kerala 2010s Malayalam-language films Films shot in Kochi Malayalam films remade in other languages 2016 comedy horror films Films directed by Ranjith Sankar Malayalam films in series