''Lalitham Sundaram'' () is a

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 comedy-drama film directed by

Madhu Warrier Madhu Warrier (born 5 July 1976), professionally credited as Madhu Wariar, is an Indian actor, director and producer known for his roles in Malayalam films. He produced the films ''Swa Le'' (2009) and ''Mayamohini'' (2012). His younger sister ...

in his directorial debut. The film stars

Biju Menon Biju Menon (born 9 September 1970) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil and Telugu film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film ''Puthran''. In a career spanning over two decade ...

Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978) is an Indian actress, producer, classical dancer and playback singer who primarily appears in Malayalam language films. She is the recipient of several awards including one National Film Award, one Ke ...

Saiju Kurup Saiju Kurup (born 12 March 1979) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. He is credited as Anirudh in Tamil movies. He debuted in '' Mayookham'' (2005) by Hariharan. As of June 2021, he ...

Deepti Sati Deepti Sati is an Indian actress and model who predominantly appears in Malayalam films. She has also appeared in Marathi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. She made her acting debut in 2015 with '' Nee-Na''. Deepti went onto star in film inclu ...

and

Anu Mohan Anu Mohan (born 24 August 1990) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam films. Career He made his debut in the 2011 film, ''Orkut oru Ormakut''. He also played the antagonist in Roopesh Peethambaran's ''Theevram''. Anu Mohan is the younger ...

. Manju Warrier co-produced the film with Kochumon under the banner Manju Warrier Productions.

Synopsis

Sunny, Annie, and their younger brother Jerry are disconnected from their family due to their busy schedule. The siblings reunite for their mother's death anniversary and decide to fulfill her last wish. This reunion leads to a series of hilarious incidents that eventually help them repair their dysfunctional familial bonds.

Cast

as Sunny Mary Das *

as Annie Mary Das *

as Jerry Mary Das Kunjan *

Raghunath Paleri Raghunath Paleri (born 7 February 1954) is an Indian novelist, screenwriter, director and actor from Kerala. Career He has directed three films'' Onnu Muthal Poojyam Vare'' (1986), '' Vismayam'' (1998), and ''Kanneerinu Madhuram'' (unreleased); ...

as Das *

as Sandeep, Annie's husband *

as Simy, Jerry's girlfriend *

Sudheesh Sudheesh (born 7 December 1972) is an Indian actor and director from Calicut who predominantly works in Malayalam film industry. He won Kerala State Film Awards for Best Character Actor in 2021. Personal life Sudheesh is the only son of T. ...

as Rajesh, Sunny's friend *

Remya Nambeesan Remya Nambeesan (born 24 March 1986) is an Indian actress, playback singer and dancer, who primarily works in Malayalam cinema. She started her career as an actress through the 2000 film '' Sayahnam''. She has acted in more than 65 films includi ...

as Sophia, Sunny's wife *

Zarina Wahab Zarina Wahab is an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Hindi and Malayalam films. Known for critically acclaimed roles in '' Chitchor'' and '' Gopal Krishna'' in Hindi and Malayalam cinema with films like '' Madanolsavam'', '' Chamaram' ...

as Mary Das *

as Doctor *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s '' Spirit'', di ...

as Music Director Harikumar *Vinod Thomas as Xavier *Anjana Appukuttan as Lisy *Thennal Abhilash as Rukmini Rukku, Annie's daughter *Ashwin Warrier as Paul, Annie's son *

Ambika Mohan Ambika Mohan is an Indian actress known for her work in Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema ...

as Sister Maria *

Asha Aravind Asha Aravind is an Indian model and film actress active in the Malayalam film industry. Personal life She was born at Changanassery, Kottayam. She is married to Aravind Ananthakrishnan Nair and has a daughter Akshaya. Acting career She star ...

as Priya

Production

Pre-production

The film was announced by

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada ...

and

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 ...

in their respective social media accounts in January 2020. The puja of the film was on February 18, 2020. P Sukumar does the cinematography for the film along with Gautham Sankar and

Lijo Paul Lijo Paul (born 10 October 1984) is a Kerala State Award-winning Indian film editor who works in Malayalam films. Film career Lijo Paul started working as an independent editor with the Malayalam film ''Vellaripravinte Changathi'' (2011). ...

handles the editing. Bineesh Chandran is the Art director of the movie and Sakhi Elsa is the costume designer. The National Film Award winning, choreographer,

Kala Master Kala, known professionally as Kala Master, is an Indian choreographer. She is the director of the Indian reality dance talent show, ''Maanada Mayilada'' – where she is one of the three judges. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best ...

is the dance choreographer of the movie.

Filming

The

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 ...

of the film began in February 2020 at

Peermade Peermade, also spelt Peerumedu (Malayalam: പീരുമേട്) is a village, Grama Panchayat and hill station in the state of Kerala, India. It lies above sea level in the Western Ghats (Sahyadri) about east of Kottayam on the way to The ...

and

Vandiperiyar Vandiperiyar, , is a spice village in Idukki district, Kerala, India. It is known for tourism, tea and coffee plantations, black pepper and other spice products. A number of tea factories are situated in the town. The Periyar River flows throug ...

The film was planned to be shot on a single schedule, but the shooting came to a sudden hault due to the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

in March, 2020. The crew had completed about half of the shooting before the lockdown. After about nine month's lockdown, the shooting was resumed in December 2020. As there was a long gap between the two schedules the director says that all the actors had to begin from the scratch again. The second schedule was shot in

and

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 ...

. The filming was wrapped up in January 2021.

Music

bijibal Bijibal Maniyil is an Indian music composer and playback singer who works predominantly in Malayalam films, documentaries, short films and television commercials. He has composed for more than 150 feature films, several documentaries and televis ...

is the music director for this film and, B.K.Harinarayanan is the lyricist.

Release

''Lalitham Sundaram'' was released on 18 March 2022. The film was initially planned to be released in July 2020, but was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. Then, It was slated for multiple times including for April 2021, August 2021, September 2021, January 2022, but they failed to release it, due to ongoing

. On 26 February 2022, It was announced that the film would be skipping its theatrical release and takes to

direct-to-digital Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was ...

release on

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar (also known as Hotstar) is an Indian brand of subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Novi Digital Entertainment of Disney Star and operated by Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, both ...

References

External links

* *{{Instagram, lalithamsundaram Indian comedy-drama films Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Munnar 2022 films 2020s Malayalam-language films Film productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic