''Angamaly Diaries'' is a 2017 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 wa ...

-language

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

film directed by

Lijo Jose Pellissery Lijo Jose Pellissery (born 18 September 1978) is an Indian filmmaker and actor who works in Malayalam cinema. Known for his unconventional approach in directing, his films are characterized by nonlinear storylines and very long takes. His best ...

and written by

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.Antony Varghese,

Anna Rajan Anna Reshma Rajan is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 2017 with the film '' Angamaly Diaries''. She worked as a nurse in a private hospital in Kochi before making her first foray into films. Personal li ...

, Kichu Tellus, Ullas Jose Chemban, Vineeth Vishwam, Bitto Davis, Tito Wilson, Sarath Kumar, and Sinoj Varghese playing the main roles. The film is

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 ...

's first sole production under Friday Film House. The film released on 3 March 2017 to critical acclaim and emerged as a major commercial success. The story follows Vincent Pepe ( Antony Varghese) who wants to be a powerful leader of a righteous gang that will rule the town of

Angamaly Angamaly (''Aṅkamāli''), , Malayalam : അങ്കമാലി Situated about north of the city centre, the town lies at the intersection of Main Central Road (MC Road) and National Highway 544. MC Road, which starts from Thiruvanantha ...

, like his seniors. The film features an uncut 11-minute

long take In filmmaking, a long take (also called a continuous take or continuous shot) is a shot with a duration much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. Significant camera movement and elaborate bl ...

in the climax featuring around 1000 artists. It was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade. The film was remade in Telugu as '' Falaknuma Das'' (2019).

Plot

Vincent Pepe ( Antony Varghese) is from

. He lives with his mother (Jolly Chirayath) and his sister Mercy ( Athira Patel), while his father went to an undeveloped area in

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

to run a cotton business. Although he was brought up to be a devout

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and also became an

altar server An altar server is a lay assistant to a member of the clergy during a Christian liturgy. An altar server attends to supporting tasks at the altar such as fetching and carrying, ringing the altar bell, helps bring up the gifts, brings up the b ...

in the local church, and his real role models were the local football team, the New Stars Team, and their captain Babuji (Anson Antony), who was also a good/bad

thug Thug or THUG may refer to: People * Thug, a common criminal, who treats others violently and roughly, often for hire * Thug, a member of the former Indian cult Thuggee ** Thug Behram (ca 1765–1840), leader of the Thuggee cult Video game * ''To ...

, feared by most in Angamaly. Inspired by them, Pepe decides to make his own gang and to be like Babuji and his New Stars Team. Pepe eventually selects the people for his gang, most of them being his friends. He eventually falls in love with Seema
Amrutha Anna Reji
in his childhood, like the rest of his gang. However, Pepe's friend and gang member Lino leaves the gang as his dad had to move to

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which ...

. The gang adopts a decent name, 'Palliyangadi Team', and they also make their first fight, in college, which ends in a disaster for them and the gang getting admitted in the hospital. Seema feels sorry for him, and the two fall in love. However, news comes that Ravi ( Sarath) and Rajan ( Tito Wilson) have murdered Babuji, and they get arrested, after the Palliyangadi Team makes a fight. Seema also marries someone else and settles in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, so Pepe falls in love with Sakhi
Binny Rinky Benjamin
who is a nursing student in Angamaly, and her family is settled in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

. She also happens to be Lily's (

) student. Pepe is hoping to marry Sakhi and to settle in Germany as well. Varkey (Kichu Tellus), a Palliyangadi Team member, falls in love with Alice
Sruthi Jayan
, a local

police constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in criminal law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. A constable is commonly the rank of an officer within the police. Other peop ...

at Angamaly. Pepe, along with owning a cable business, presents the idea of starting a

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved ...

business to the gang, to which they accept. They suggest help from Ravi and Rajan, now known as 'Appani Ravi' and 'U-Clamp Rajan', who own a pork farm and shop, and who also trade

marijuana Cannabis, also known as marijuana among other names, is a psychoactive drug from the cannabis plant. Native to Central or South Asia, the cannabis plant has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in variou ...

throughout Angamaly and participating in other crimes. Pepe reluctantly agrees to this, and they form a business. The story takes a turn when Pepe accidentally kills someone. There are a lot of fights because of this. The rest of the story revolves around this incident and how Pepe and his friends together get out of this issue.

Cast

Production

The film introduces 86 new actors and the audition was held at different parts of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

, especially 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 ...

. Actor

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.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 ...

's first sole production after the spat with his business partner

Sandra Thomas Sandra Thomas is an Indian film producer and actress. She is best known for her roles in ''Amen'' and '' Zachariayude Garbhinikal'', also as the producer of ''Zachariayude Garbhinikal'' and '' Philips and the Monkey Pen''. Sandra, along with pr ...

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by

Prashant Pillai Prashant Pillai (born 8 September 1981) is a music producer and composer from India. Early career After completing his Sound engineering in Chennai, he went on to work with A.R.Rahman. After a short stint with him, he moved on and settled i ...

, with lyrics by P. S. Rafeeque and Preeti Pillai. The full movie soundtrack was released on 23 February 2017 and consists of 9 songs: six original and three alternate versions.

Release

The film was released on 3 March 2017.

Box office

The film received positive reviews from the critics and became commercial success. The film collected over ₹20 crore in its final run in theatres.

Critical Reception

Since its release, ''Angamaly Diaries'' has met with critical acclaim. It was lauded for its realistic making,

cinematography Cinematography (from ancient Greek κίνημα, ''kìnema'' "movement" and γράφειν, ''gràphein'' "to write") is the art of Film, motion picture (and more recently, electronic video camera) photography. Cinematographers use a lens (o ...

casting Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...

and performance of actors.

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

's Deborah Young termed the film as a "rambunctious breakout" and praised the climax describing it as "dazzling, can’t-look-away finale, shot in a single 12-minute take that throws in everything plus the kitchen sink and brings the story to a shrill conclusion". Anjana George of

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, 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, t ...

gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and praised the film as "Showcasing a mélange of beautiful visuals, thumping music and natural performances, Angamaly Diaries is one of the more fresh and terrific attempts made by a filmmaker of late in Mollywood Film." She added, "Chemban has weaved in the dialect, food, music and culture of the people in Angamaly to the plot, paying careful attention to every intricate detail, while making it an engaging movie." Anna MM Vetticad of

Firstpost ''Firstpost'' is an Indian online news and media website. The site is a part of the Network 18 media conglomerate owned by Reliance Industries, which also runs CNN-News18 and CNBC-TV18. The ''Network 18'' group was originally owned by Ra ...

also gave it 4 stars out of 5 and called it as a "delightful, unexpectedly hilarious take on the squalid underbelly of Kerala’s Angamaly town.". She added, "If ever there was an example of the committed cinephile’s dictum “it is not the story but the treatment that makes a film”, you have it here. Because if you think about it, Angamaly Diaries – funny and insightful in equal measure – does not have a story in the conventional sense, yet that, among so many other reasons, is what makes it brilliant." Critic Veeyen termed the film as "Excellent" and stated that "the Angamaly that filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery and writer Vinod Jose scribble their diary notes on is a dusty, deafening town that smells of pork and sloshed human blood. The ceaseless squabbles for honour, money and might render it a land with almost dystopian proportions, where a terrifyingly realistic tale of subsistence unfurls."

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 Hin ...

of Film Companion South wrote "Like last year’s Kannada blockbuster Kirik Party, Angamaly Diaries is proof that these relatively under-the-radar upstart films are making far better use of mainstream tropes – fights, songs, comedy – than your average mega-budget big-star vehicle...like Premam, Angamaly Diaries places a certain kind of small-town, short-fused masculinity under a microscope. Men are defined by their actions – and I’m not just talking about the action sequences." The film also received high praises from the film fraternity. Actor

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appe ...

wrote: "Happened to watch Angamaly Diaries and I'm impressed by the way the movie is made. Brilliant acting by every one and Kudos to the whole team and to Chemban Vinod Jose and Lijo Jose Pellissery". Actor

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 r ...

lauded it as a "stunning piece of film making" and praised its "original writing". Actor

Nivin Pauly Nivin Pauly (born 11 October 1984) is an Indian actor and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He is a recipient of several awards including two Kerala State Film Awards and three Filmfare South awards. Nivin auditioned for ...

applauded the casting, performances, story calling them "so refreshing and real". Director

Karthik Subbaraj Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian film director, writer and producer working mainly in Tamil cinema. Life and career Karthik did his schooling in SBOA Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Madurai after which he went on to study Mechatroni ...

called the film as "Super Fantastic" and lauded it, saying "Writing, Performances & Filmmaking Crafts at its best". Director

Anurag Kashyap Anurag Kashyap (born 10 September 1972) is an Indian filmmaker and actor known for his works in Hindi cinema. He is the recipient of several accolades, including four Filmfare Awards. For his contributions to film, the Government of France aw ...

called it as "an extraordinary film" and tagged ''Angamaly Diaries'' as his film of the year so far. Antony Varghese won the Youth Icon Award at

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says that awards ceremony has been instituted to honour both art ...

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Angamaly Diaries 2017 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Indian crime drama films Malayalam films remade in other languages Films shot in Kochi Angamaly Films directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery