''Aanum Pennum'' () is a 2021 Indian

Malayalam-language 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 ...

anthology film An anthology film (also known as an omnibus film or a portmanteau film) is a single film consisting of three or more shorter films, each complete in itself and distinguished from the other, though frequently tied together by a single theme, premise ...

featuring three segments directed by

Venu The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...

Aashiq Abu Aashiq Abu (born 12 April 1978) is an Indian film director, producer, cinematographer, actor, and distributor, who works in Malayalam cinema. He is best known for his films such as '' Daddy Cool'' (2009), '' Salt N' Pepper'' (2011), '' 22 Female ...

and Jay K. The film explores the stories of man-woman relationships in the backdrop of three different timelines with each segment telling a story on romance, betrayal and lust. The anthology features an ensemble cast of Samyuktha Menon, Parvathy Thiruvothu, Asif Ali, Roshan Mathew, Darshana Rajendran,

Joju George Joseph "Joju" George (born 22 October 1977) is an Indian actor, playback singer, director, writer and producer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema along with Tamil, and Telugu cinemas. In 2015, he won the Kerala State Film Award � ...

Indrajith Sukumaran Indrajith Sukumaran (born 17 December 1979) is an Indian actor and playback singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of actor Prithviraj Sukum ...

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 M ...

Kaviyoor Ponnamma Kaviyoor Ponnamma (10 September 1945 – 20 September 2024) was an Indian actress who appeared in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She also acted in TV serials and c ...

and

Basil Joseph Basil Joseph (born 28 April 1989) is an Indian film actor and director who works in the Malayalam film industry. He started his film career as an assistant director of Vineeth Sreenivasan in the 2013 film ''Thira''. He has directed three films ...

Bijibal Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. In a career spanning more than twenty years, he has composed for more than 150 feature films, several television commercials and a few d ...

and Dawn Vincent composes the original songs and

background 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 ...

. The film is presented by

Rajeev Ravi Rajeev Ravi is an Indian cinematographer, director, and producer from Kochi, Kerala. He's best known for his work in Hindi and Malayalam films. After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1997, he started his caree ...

and produced by C. K. Padma Kumar and M. Dileep Kumar under Prime Production. It marks Nedumudi Venu's last film before his death on 11 October 2021.

Short films

Production

Jay K.'s film has completed filming in 2019 while, other films are in different stages of production. Venu's segment which is set in the backdrop of 1950s was shot in

Palakkad Palakkad (), Renaming of cities in India, also known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery, is a city and a municipality in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of P ...

. Aashiq Abu's segment was filmed during November 2019.

Music

The first song from the film was released on 26 March 2021 by Manorama Music on their

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

Release

The film was released on 26 March 2021. The film is available for online streaming on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

, Saina Play and Koode.

Reception

Baradwaj Rangan Baradwaj Rangan () is an Indian film critic and writer. A chemical engineering graduate with no formal training in filmmaking or cinema writing, he has a diverse career in advertising, IT consulting, and cinema writing. He has authored two boo ...

of Film Companion South wrote "Rani, the third film is the real standout. If you take just the form, ignoring the content for a moment, the way the scenes are written with the dialogue and silence, the way the music kicks in on time and goes out, the unexpected twist with an elderly couple and a Biblical confusion that comes to haunt a man...it doesn't feel like a film about something specific. It feels like snapshots pulled out of people's lives, which is the toughest thing for a filmmaker to do. Rani, with a breathtaking ending, is the only film that worked in this anthology."

References

External links

* {{Aashiq Abu 2021 films 2020s Malayalam-language films Indian anthology films Films shot in Palakkad Films directed by Aashiq Abu