''Happy Journey'' is a 2014

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 ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written by

Arunlal Ramachandran Arunlal Ramachandran(born 14 January 1983) is an Indian people, Indian screenwriter working in Malayalam cinema. His films include Vettah and Karinkunnam 6'S. Early life Arunlal completed his secondary education from Mannam Memorial Residen ...

and directed by Boban Samuel, starring

Jayasurya Jayasurya (born 31 August 1978) is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist who works in Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a National Film Awards, National Fi ...

, Aparna Gopinath, and Lal. The film is produced by Ashiq Usman under the banner of Milestone Cinemas and features music composed by Gopi Sunder, cinematography by Mahesh Raj, and editing by Lijo Paul.

Plot

The story narrates the life of a young man from Fort Kochi named Aaron, who loses his eyesight during his school days in an accident and how he finds a place in the Indian cricket team for the blind.

Cast

as Aaron **Nidheesh boban as Young Aaron * Aparna Gopinath as Ziya Sidharth * Lal as Gopikrishnan *

Lalu Alex Lalu Alex is an Indian film actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning four decades, Lalu Alex has acted in over 250 films and is known for his character roles, comic roles and antagonistic roles in the Malayalam film in ...

as Jacob *

Balu Varghese Balu Varghese is an Indian actor and singer who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He began his acting career as a child actor in '' Chanthupottu'' (2005). Early life and career Balu Varghese was born in Kochi. He is the son o ...

as Freddy ** Gourav Menon as Young Freddy * Chemban Vinod Jose *

Nizhalgal Ravi Ravichandran Samanna (born 16 April 1956), known professionally as Nizhalgal Ravi, is an Indian film, television and voice actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema. He has also performed in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films and television series. ...

* Lena as Alice * Indian Pallassery as Paanchi *Ramshad *

Neeraj Madhav Neeraj Madhav (born 26 March 1990) is an Indian actor and rapper who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry Early life Neeraj was born on 26 March 1990, in Kozhikode, Kerala into a Malayali family. He did his schooling from St. Jose ...

as Santhosh

Production

Development

Boban Samuel who had debuted into

Malayalam film industry Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both the mainstream film industry a ...

as a director through the film Janapriyan had announced a project before his film Romans starring

who played the lead role in his debut venture. Although those projects didn't materialize after two years, through scriptwriter Arunlal who made his debut with 10:30 am Local Call and later went on to do

Thank You "Thank you" (often expanded to ''thank you very much'' or ''thanks a lot'', or informally abbreviated to ''thanks'' or alternately as ''many thanks''Geoffrey Leech, ''The Pragmatics of Politeness'' (2014), p. 200.) is a common expression of gr ...

starring Jayasurya in the lead, he pitched the plot to the lead actor. Jayasurya contacted Boban Samuel who instantly wanted to do the film, as it essays the story of a blind cricketer. Ashiq Usman chose to produce the film under the banner of Milestone Cinemas after Arikil Oraal. The editor was chosen to be Lijo Paul, Vinesh Banglan the art director, Sreya Aravind the costume designer and Ronex Xavier the makeup. The film was untitled until halfway through the filming. When the title "Happy Journey was chosen, the news was confirmed by actor Jayasurya who said that happy journey is the synonym for the film's theme and was an apt title. It is based on the real-life story of a visually challenged Malayali youth who is a part of the Indian blind cricket team."

Casting

Jayasurya was already initially cast as he contacted the director after hearing Arunlal's script. Ramshad Manjeri is Ramo in the script. The casting quickly took place, and Aparna Gopinath who debuted into acting in films through the film ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi and several other supporting actors were cast. Lena was chosen to play a mother who was significant to the plot.

Filming

The filming began at

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

on 17 November 2013. The main locations of the film was

Ernakulam Ernakulam () is the central business district of the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is the namesake of Ernakulam district. The eastern part of Kochi city is mainly known as Ernakulam, while the western part of it after the Venduruthy Bridge ...

, including

Edappally Edappally or Idappalli is a region in the city of Kochi, Kerala, India. It is a major commercial centre as well as a prominent residential region. Edappally junction is one of the busiest junctions in the city. History Edappally in English li ...

and

Mattancherry Mattancherry (; Cochin Portuguese Creole: ''Cochim de Cima'' ), is a historic ward of Kochi, Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, follow ...

Critical reception

'' Cine Shore'' gave the movie 2.75/5 stars, stating that "''Happy Journey'' A Journey, Good in parts."

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 3686176 2014 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films about blind people in India Films about disability in India Films scored by Gopi Sundar Films shot in Kochi Films directed by Boban Samuel