''Lalitham Sundaram'' ( ''Simple Is Beautiful'') is a

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 ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

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 '' Swantham Lekhakan'' (2009) and ''Mayamohini'' (2012). He is t ...

in his directorial debut. The film stars

Biju Menon Biju Menon (born 9 September 1967) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film ''Puthran''. In a career spanning over ...

Manju Warrier Manju Warrier (; born 10 September 1978/1979) is an Indian actress, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. She is the recipient of a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award and seven Filmfare Awards South. Warrier made her actin ...

Saiju Kurup Saiju Govinda Kurup (born 12 March 1979) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri ...

, Deepti Sati and Anu Mohan. Manju Warrier co-produced the film with Kochumon under the banner Manju Warrier Productions. The film released on 18 March 2022 directly through

Disney+ Hotstar Disney+ Hotstar, also known as JioHotstar or simply Hotstar, is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Disney Star. The brand was introduced as Hotstar for a streaming service carrying content from Di ...

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

* Kumar Sethu as Mahesh

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-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...

and

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

on their respective social media accounts in January 2020. The puja of the film was on February 18, 2020. P Sukumar did 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 people, Indian film editor who works in Malayalam films. Film career Lijo Paul started working as an independent editor with the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film ''Vell ...

handled 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, 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 the ...

of the film began in February 2020 at

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

and

Vandiperiyar Vandiperiyar, , is a spice village in Idukki district, in the Indian state of Kerala. It is known for tourism, tea and coffee plantations, black pepper and other spice products. It is also known as an educational city and a number of tea factori ...

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

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

in March 2020. The crew had completed about half of the shooting before the lockdown. After about nine month of 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, 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 ...

. 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. In a career spanning more than twenty years, he has composed for more than 150 feature films, several television commercials and a few d ...

is the music director of 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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

. On 26 February 2022, it was announced that the film would be skipping its theatrical release and taken to direct-to-digital release on

References

External links

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