''Palunku'' () is a 2006 Malayalam-language

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 and directed by Blessy. It stars

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, ...

in the lead role with Nazriya Nazim making her on-screen debut through this film- along with Lakshmi Sharma, Baby Nivedita, Kottayam Santha, and

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar Achary (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four deca ...

playing other pivotal roles. The film was mainly shot at various locations in

Muvattupuzha Muvattupuzha () is a Municipalities of Kerala, municipalityhttps://lsgkerala.gov.in/system/files/2017-10/localbodies.pdf in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India. It is located east of the district headquarters in Thrikkakara and a ...

and

Thodupuzha Thodupuzha () is a municipality and taluk in the Idukki district of Kerala, India. It is located west of the district headquarters in Painavu and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Thodupu ...

. It released on 22 December 2006."Of the ills of consumerism"
/ref> Mammootty won the Best Actor award for the film at the Kerala Film Critics Awards.

Cast

as Monichan * Lakshmi Sharma as Susamma * Nazriya Nazim as Geethu * Baby Nivedita as Neethu *

as Soman Pillai *

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 ...

as Teacher * Thampi Antony as Prof. Sukumaran Nair *

Santhakumari Santha Kumari (born Vellaala Subbamma; 17 May 1920 – 16 January 2006) was an Indian musical artist and actress. She was married to the Telugu film director and producer P. Pullayya. Early years Vellaala Subbamma was born in Proddatur tow ...

as Lalitha * Tony Sigimon as Alexander * Kottayam Santha as Ammayi * Subair as Police Officer *Mahima * Vishnu Unnikrishnan as Asalappan

Critical reception

A review by ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' said, "''Palunku'' is a commendable attempt at portraying the changing attitude of the modern Malayali through the story of a small family of a husband, wife, and two children. The family succumbs to the temptations of a modern lifestyle and gets down to making money. The movie realistically depicts how the craze for modernity and consumerist culture affects

family values Family values, sometimes referred to as familial values, are traditional or cultural values that pertain to the family's structure, function, roles, beliefs, attitudes, and ideals. Additionally, the concept of family values may be understood ...

". A review by

Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...

wrote "performances by

as Monichan, new girl Lakshmi Sharma as Susamma, the children Nazriya Nazim as Geethu and Niveditha as Neethu and

as Soman Pillai this technically superb film is a must watch this weekend".

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was composed by Mohan Sithara, with lyrics penned by Kaithapram, Sarath Vayalar, and D. Vinayachandran.

References

External links

* {{Blessy 2000s Malayalam-language films 2006 drama films 2006 films Films directed by Blessy Films scored by Mohan Sithara