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 ...

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

period drama A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and swas ...

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar (born 16 May 1957), professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. Early life Vinayan is from ...

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

Siju Wilson Wilson Joseph (born 22 November 1984), professionally credited as Siju Wilson, is an Indian actor and producer, who works in Malayalam films. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film for his debut production '' Vasanthi'' (2019). Care ...

Kayadu Lohar Kayadu Lohar (; born 11 April 2000) is an Indian actress and model. She made her acting debut with the Kannada film, ''Mugilpete'' (2021). Early life Kayadu Lohar hails from Tezpur, Assam, India, and currently resides in Pune. She is a Comme ...

Anoop Menon Anoop Menon (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films. Menon won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supportin ...

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.Deepti Sati,

Poonam Bajwa Poonam Bajwa is an Indian actress and model who appears in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. She made her acting debut in 2005 with the Telugu film '' Modati Cinema'', after that she was featured in more Telugu film, such as '' Boss'' ...

, and Senthil Krishna in important roles. The background score was composed by

Santhosh Narayanan Santhosh Narayanan is an Indian composer and musician in the Tamil film industry. Early life Santhosh Narayanan was born in Tiruchirappalli, India. He is the younger of two children. He was educated at RSK Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirappa ...

and songs were composed by M. Jayachandran. ''Pathonpatham Noottandu'' was released in theatres on 8 September 2022.

Plot

A young Velayudha Chekavar from Arattupuzha arrives at the

English East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

headquarters at

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

for asking a lord for a permit to export cardamom. There he watches a brutal fighting contested between slaves conducted by the English officers along with some nobles and other guests. When the winner is coerced by the officers to kill the loser by bludgeoning, Chekavar interferes and saves him, but a fight happens and Velayudha Chekavar manages to escape without getting shot. The

Maharaja Mahārāja (; also spelled Maharajah, Maharaj) is a Sanskrit title for a "great ruler", "great Monarch, king" or "high king". A few ruled states informally called empires, including ruler raja Sri Gupta, founder of the ancient Indian Gupta Em ...

of Travancore calls Velayudha Chekavar to the Durbar to ask his help to find and capture

Kayamkulam Kochunni Kayamkulam Kochunni (born 1818) was a heroic outlaw from Kayamkulam, who lived during the late 19th century. He was active in the Travancore area in the present-day Kerala, India. He is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. Le ...

who stole sacred salagram ornaments from the

Padmanabhaswamy Temple The Shree Padmanabhaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala, India. The name of the city of 'Thiruvananthapuram' in Tamil and Malayalam translates to "The City of Lord Ananta" (The Ci ...

. The naduvazhi ministers and governors dissuade the Maharaja from enlisting him with the task because Velayudha Chekavar was a lower caste

Ezhava The Ezhavas () are a community with origins in the region of India presently known as Kerala, where in the 2010s they constituted about 23% of the population and were reported to be the largest Hindu community. They are also known as ''Ilhava' ...

. Since Kochunni assaulted Paachupanikkar, the commander-in-chief of Travancore Army, and his assistants during their attempt to capture him, Maharaja announces a reward of 100 gold coins to whoever gives information about Kochunni. Meanwhile, Kochunni who stole the chest of ornaments had hid it under the ground near the palace, he plans to recover it during the wedding celebration of prince. Chekavar builds a

Shiva Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...

temple for the lower caste people. He gets arrested for the same on the order of the Diwan as it was forbidden for the lower caste to worship an idol. While in jail, the deputy commander-in-chief, Padaveedan Nambi and the naduvazhi Panikkasseri Kaimal plans to poison Chekavar to death. Inspector Kannan Kurup, the son of former commander-in-chief comes in to the rescue of Chekavar and asks him not to have anything given by the jailors. The queen who knows about his arrest issues order to release him. The queen then meets him and asks his help to retrieve the stolen ornaments and capture Kochunni. On the wedding evening, Kochunni arrives to retrieve the hidden chest. Kurup finds him and catches him but lets him free as Kochunni offers half the price of the ornaments. Kochunni and Kurup tries to sell the chest to Looper, an Englishman who exports ivory and antiques to England and France. Chekavar arrives there and defeats Kochunni and his team and retrieves the chest. Kurup and Looper escape. Kochunni gets jailed. Maharaja offers the reward of ''veera shringhala'' and 1008 gold coins, but his ministers advice him against giving it directly by the Mahraja conforming to

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

law. Seeing this, Chekavar rejects the reward. To honour him, Maharaja confers him the title Panicker, thenceforth he is known as Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker. Kurup meets Kochunni in jail and Kochunni offers him stolen gold coins in return for killing Velayudha Panicker. Meanwhile injustice towards the lower caste continued. Women who wore the clothes that covered their ankles were beaten up with hot iron rods. The lords chopped off the noses of women who wore nose rings and chopped off the breasts of the women who covered their breasts. As a protest to all these Panicker proclaimed all women to cover their chests, wear long dothi and nose ring and perform Poothan dance during the Perumpoothan Thullal, a dance ritual. He provide garments and nose rings to all women. During the ritual, Panikkasseri Kaimal and Padaveedan Nambi came with a team of police inspectors and started to beat up everyone. Panicker and Nangeli went on defending them. Nambi killed Panicker's grandfather, Perumal. In that fury Panicker killed Nambi. During that time Kurup and Kochunni's assistant, Bava came on horse back and fired at Panicker. Panicker followed them and caught Bava. The next day in the durbar of the palace, Diwan and Kaimal requested the king to take necessary action against Panicker for breaking the ritual rules and for killing Nambi. Panicker came before the king and said that he is happy that he killed a traitor. Soon Bava was brought before the court. There he confessed that Nambi and the naduvazhi Chandrupilla leaked them the information about Paachupanikkar coming to Kayamkulam to captive Kochunni. He also said that they gave a reward of ten thousand gold coins for that information. Bava was jailed. Chandrupilla was sentenced to death for the treason while being a naduvazhi. He also announced that trial will continue the next day and only then the final verdict will be made. Panicker and his people leave to

Cherthala Cherthala, , (formerly Shertalai, Shertallai or Shertallay) is a Municipal town and a Taluk located at National highway 66 in the district of Alappuzha, in the state of Kerala, India. Cherthala is the satellite town and industrial hub of Ala ...

after his grandfather's cremation. There the idol installation at the temple takes place. Panicker plans to go to Ananthapuri. Kaimal and Raman Thambi buy off to Kandappan, Panicker's close aide, and he adds some powder in the tender coconut drink given to Panicker. He does the same in all the tender coconut drinks which were taken for the people who travel in boat. Kaimal executes Bava with the help of king's confidante Rudran. People in the boat start feeling drowsy during their journey. At that time, Kaimal and his team attack Panicker. He kills everyone, but bleeds to death. Later Nangeli is tied and beaten up for covering up her chest. Kelu, her father who came for her rescue is also tied and beaten. To save her father's life, she agrees to remove her upper cloth and to pay the breast tax. As a protest to this injustice, she herself chops her breasts and presents it before the governers. She soon bleed to death. Seeing her mutilated body, her lover Chirukkandan jumped into her funeral pyre. The death of Panicker and Nangeli arouse fury and distress among the people. They attack the authorities and the landlords, and destroy shops and markets. To save Travancore from becoming a riotous land, the king abolishes the unjust taxes and grants women the right to cover their upper body.

Cast

*

Siju Wilson Wilson Joseph (born 22 November 1984), professionally credited as Siju Wilson, is an Indian actor and producer, who works in Malayalam films. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film for his debut production '' Vasanthi'' (2019). Care ...

as Arattupuzha Velayudha Panicker, a wealthy trader and swordsman. *

Kayadu Lohar Kayadu Lohar (; born 11 April 2000) is an Indian actress and model. She made her acting debut with the Kannada film, ''Mugilpete'' (2021). Early life Kayadu Lohar hails from Tezpur, Assam, India, and currently resides in Pune. She is a Comme ...

as Nangeli *

Anoop Menon Anoop Menon (born 3 August 1976) is an Indian actor, director, screenwriter and lyricist. He worked in television before acting in Malayalam films and has acted in more than 75 films. Menon won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Supportin ...

as Maharaja of Travancore Ayilyam Thirunal Rama Varma *

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.Kayamkulam Kochunni Kayamkulam Kochunni (born 1818) was a heroic outlaw from Kayamkulam, who lived during the late 19th century. He was active in the Travancore area in the present-day Kerala, India. He is said to have stolen from the rich and given to the poor. Le ...

* Deepti Sati as Savithri Thampuratti *

Poonam Bajwa Poonam Bajwa is an Indian actress and model who appears in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. She made her acting debut in 2005 with the Telugu film '' Modati Cinema'', after that she was featured in more Telugu film, such as '' Boss'' ...

as Queen of Travancore Mathruppillil Kalyanikutty Amma * Renu Soundar as Neeli * Senthil Krishna as Chirukandan *

Sudev Nair Sudev Nair is an Indian actor and model working in Malayalam films best known for his performance in the 2014 film ''My Life Partner'', for which he was awarded the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor in 2014. He also starred in the 2019 ...

as Padaveedan Nambi * Suresh Krishna as Panikkasseri Parameswara Kaimal * Vishnu Vinay as Kannan Kurup *

Tini Tom Tini Tom is an Indian actor, comedian and mimicry artist from Kerala. He works in Malayalam films and television. Early life Tini was born in North Paravoor, Kerala, India. His father Tomy T.D. is an engineer. He has a sister Tincy. Tom compl ...

as Kunju Pillai * Gokulam Gopalan as Perumal *

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

as Kelu *

Manikandan R. Achari Manikandan R. Achari is an Indian actor who has appeared in many Malayalam films and theatre productions. He made his film debut in the 2016 film ''Kammatipaadam''. Personal life Manikandan was born in 1980 at Thrippunithura, Kerala. He marr ...

as Bava * Ramu as Diwan *

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

as Diwan Peshkar Kalyana Krishnan *

Raghavan Raghavan (Tamil: ராகவன்; Malayalam: രാഘവന്‍) is a South Indian name. It derives from the Sanskrit ''raghava'', meaning "derived from Raghu" or "descendant of Raghu" (an epithet of the Hindu god Rama, an incarnation of ...

as Eeswaran Namboothiri * Alencier Ley Lopez as Chandrakkaran Raman Thampi *

Sudheer Karamana Sudheer Karamana (born 24 May 1971) is an Indian actor who appears mainly in Malayalam cinema. He is the son of veteran actor Karamana Janardanan Nair. Personal life He is the eldest son to actor Karamana Janardanan Nair and Jaya, at Karama ...

as Pachupanicker, Chief of Travancore Army * Varsha Viswanath as Janaki * Madhuri Braganza as Katha * Musthafa as Kandappan *

Jaffar Idukki Jaffar Idukki is an Indian actor, impressionist, and comedian, who predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. Started his career with the 2007 film '' Kaiyoppu'', he has acted in about hundred films and has performed in a number of comedy st ...

as Thandalkkaran Keshunni *

Shivaji Guruvayoor Shivaji Guruvayoor (born 28 May 1961) is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema. He started his film career with the film ''Arabikkatha ''Arabikkatha'' () is a 2007 Indian Malayalam cinema, Malayalam-language satirical-drama film dir ...

as Cherthala Naduvazhi *

Sunil Sukhada Sunil Sukhada is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He debuted in a small role in the film ''Best Actor''. His first full length role was as the supermarket manager in ''Chappa Kurishu'' (2011). He won a special mention in the Kerala state te ...

as Chandru Pillai * Niya as Velutha * Master Adhil Raj as Kunju *

Spadikam George George Antony, popularly credited as Spadikam George is an Indian actor and former Kerala state Police officer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He came to the limelight with the 1995 film '' Spadikam'', after which his name was preceded ...

as Diwan Peshkar Nanu Pillai * Naseer Sankranthi as Konthikuruppu, Eeswaran Namboothiri's Assistant * Jayakumar Parameswaran Pillai as Appu Kurup * Koottickal Jayachandran as Achupilla, the translator *

Chali Pala Chalil Baby better known as Chali Pala is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam movies. He handles character roles and supporting roles in Malayalam films. Biography He is born at Thiruvananthapuram on 28 Sep 1957. He debuted in Iyer the ...

as Nagan Pilla, the jailor * Vishnu Govind as Chaathan * V. K. Baiju as Komakuruppu * Sruthi Roshan as Bhageerathi Thampuratti * Krishnaprasadh as Narayanan Namboothiri * Munshi Renjith as Karunan * Biju Ezhuppunna as Panjupilla police * Adinadu Sasi as Kittu * Poojappura Radhakrishnan as Thanupilla * Sharan Puthumana as the Thirumeni

Voice only

*

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 ...

as Narrator (1st Half) *

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 ...

as Narrator (2nd Half)

Production

Director

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar (born 16 May 1957), professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. Early life Vinayan is from ...

announced the film in March 2020 by making a casting call.

Filming

Pooja function of the film was held in

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 ...

in January 2021, but the shooting was delayed 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 ...

. The first schedule of the shooting began in

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated municipal ...

and it lasted for about three months. The shooting was temporarily stopped after that, as the state was undergoing the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. On June 27, 2021 Vinayan said that the editing works has started as they have shot about 80 percent of the movie. He also added that the shooting will resume after the descent of the second wave. The second and the final schedule of the shooting began on November 3, 2021. By sharing the last shot of the movie,

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar (born 16 May 1957), professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. Early life Vinayan is from ...

and

Siju Wilson Wilson Joseph (born 22 November 1984), professionally credited as Siju Wilson, is an Indian actor and producer, who works in Malayalam films. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film for his debut production '' Vasanthi'' (2019). Care ...

announced that the shooting of the movie was wrapped up on November 23, 2021. The

Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal, nor vert ...

mixing of the film was completed on 1 July 2022. The film was censored with U/A certificate on 20 August 2022. Shaji Kumar was the cinematographer of the film. Vivek Harshan did the editing work on the film. Pattanam Rasheed handled the make-up and the costumes were arranged by Dhanya Bhalakrishnan. Ajayan Challissery was the art director of the movie. Mafia Sasi, Supreme Sundar and Rajashekar handled the action choreography of the movie. V. C. Praveen and Biju Gopalan are the co-producers of the movie and Badusha is the production controller.

Music

The music composition of the film started on June 2020. The songs featured in the film are composed by M. Jayachandran and

Rafeeq Ahamed Rafeeq Ahmed (born 17 December 1961) is a Malayalam poet, lyricist and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Poetry and is a five-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyrics. With more than 600 songs in his c ...

is the lyricist.

Santhosh Narayanan Santhosh Narayanan is an Indian composer and musician in the Tamil film industry. Early life Santhosh Narayanan was born in Tiruchirappalli, India. He is the younger of two children. He was educated at RSK Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirappa ...

has done the background score of the film. The film marks his debut as a composer in the Malayalam film industry.

Release

Marketing

Pathonpatham Noottandu Promotion event at Lulu Mall Kochi IMG 20220907 211320

The

teaser trailer A teaser (or more specifically teaser trailer) is a mini- trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release move or television show advertisement. Short in length, te ...

of the film was released on June 3, 2022 through the official social media pages of celebrities including

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 ...

. The trailer of the movie was released on 20 August 2022. The

theatrical trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techn ...

of the film was launched in the

Metaverse In science fiction, the "metaverse" is a hypothetical iteration of the Internet as a single, universal, and immersive virtual world that is facilitated by the use of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) headsets. In colloquial usage, ...

as well. This was the first Malayalam movie trailer was released in metaverse.

Theatrical

Initially the film was scheduled theatrical release on 8 September 2022 in

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 ...

and dubbed versions of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages simultaneously. The film was released in India and GCC on 8 September 2022. As the censoring of the dubbed copies was not completed the film was released only in Malayalam language on 8 September 2022. Later the film was released in dubbed versions Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages.

Home media

The film had its

OTT Ott, OTT or O.T.T. may refer to: Entertainment * OTT (group), a pop band from the late 1990s * Ott (record producer), British record producer and musician * "O.T.T" (song), a song by Fugative * ''O.T.T.'' (television series), a UK TV programme f ...

premiere through

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service p ...

on 7 November 2022.

Reception

''

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 ...

'' rated the film 4 out of 5 stars and wrote "A heartfelt historical narrative". '' Onmanorama'' wrote "An exceptional treat from Vinayan, Siju Wilson". '' The Hindu'' wrote "A package with some punch, despite its failings". Hindu Aikya Vedi said that there are historical inaccuracies in the film, saying that Nangeli's story is fictional and there was no tax on breast, and Velayudha Panicker was killed by his relative who converted to Islam. Vinayan addressed the accusations saying that he had taken artistic liberty and the film is not a documentary and has omitted some things.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 13126492, Pathonpatham Noottandu Films directed by Vinayan 2020s Malayalam-language films Indian historical drama films Indian historical action films Films set in the British Raj History of Kerala on film Films shot in Kerala Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Alappuzha Films scored by M. Jayachandran