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 G. Marthandan and written by
Bipin Chandran
Bipin Chandran stands as a distinguished figure in the realm of Indian literature and cinema, hailing from the picturesque state of Kerala. An accomplished writer, screenwriter, and actor, he has made significant contributions to Malayalam cinem ...
, based on the story he co-wrote with Shibin Francis. The film is about the life of two alcoholics It stars
Prithviraj Sukumaran
Prithviraj Sukumaran (Help:IPA/Malayalam, /pr̩t̪ʰʋiɾaːd͡ʒ/; born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, producer, director, and playback singer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Tamil, Bollywood, Hin ...
and
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 Supporting ...
Asha Sarath
Asha Sharath is an Indian actress and classical dancer, who predominantly works in Malayalam films and television shows in addition to a few Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films. She is most known for her role as Geetha Prabhakar in the ''Drishya ...
,
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 ...
and
Maniyanpilla Raju
Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam: മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.Aby Tom Cyriac and released under the label
Muzik 247
Muzik 247 based out of Chennai, acquires music rights for South Indian Cinema films, mainly Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu. The company was founded in 2012 by Naveen Bhandari, and has achieved a large market share of the Malayalam film music.
About ...
.
''Paavada'' released on 15 January 2016. The film was a commercial success, grossing from the box office.
Synopsis
The film opens with a poem by
Faiz Ahmad Faiz
Chaudhry Faiz Ahmad Faiz (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) was a Pakistani poet and author of Punjabi language, Punjabi and Urdu literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated, popular, and influential Urdu writers of his time, and his ...
. An alcoholic duo meet at a de-addiction center helps each other to arrange their lives back together with their persistent illness. Pambu Joy's married life is in a muddle due to his
alcoholism
Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
. Pavada Babu's life is in pieces due to a film he produced in which Sicily, Joy's mother, was the heroine. For financial gain, the film was adulterated by his friend Eldho. Eldho intends to re-release the film's 3D extended version. Both Joy and Babu fight through their alcoholism to stop the re-release of the film due to the added pain that it will cause for Babu and to Joy's mother Sicily forms the crux of the story.
Cast
Production
Earlier,
Shobana
Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970); known mononymously as Shobana, is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer, who works predominantly in Malayalam films, in addition to Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English and Kannada films. She is ...
was approached for the role of Sicily, but the actress turned down the role as she was not willing to do mother role of Prithviraj, she was replaced by
Asha Sarath
Asha Sharath is an Indian actress and classical dancer, who predominantly works in Malayalam films and television shows in addition to a few Tamil, Kannada and Telugu films. She is most known for her role as Geetha Prabhakar in the ''Drishya ...
. Actor
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 ...
has sung a song for the film, titled "Kuruthakkedinte Koodanu," composed by Aby Tom Cyriac, which describes the character of Joy (Prithviraj). According to Maniyanpilla Raju, the film will have "a lot of twists".
Music
The film's songs are composed by Aby Tom Cyriac with lyrics written by B. K. Hari Narayanan. There are three songs and one is a promo song sung by
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 ...
.
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 ...
, K. G. Ranjith and Nedumudi Venu are the singers. The music was released through the label
Muzik 247
Muzik 247 based out of Chennai, acquires music rights for South Indian Cinema films, mainly Tamil, Malayalam and Tulu. The company was founded in 2012 by Naveen Bhandari, and has achieved a large market share of the Malayalam film music.
About ...
. The audio music launch was held in a low profile event 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 ...
in December 2015, the money generated from which went to Chennai flood victims' relief funds. Aby Tom Cyriac has sampled music from Indian ethnic genre of the early 80s and late 90s.
Release
Theatrical
''Paavada'' released on 15 January 2016.
Reception
Box office
''Paavada'' grossed approximately in the opening weekend from India
box office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicket. ...
. The film's final gross collection is estimated as with a share of . It completed 100 days theatrical run in the state.
Critical response
''
The Times of India
''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian 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, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated that the movie does try to explain alcoholism as a way of dealing with helplessness and how it can ruin one's credibility.
Rediff.com
Rediff.com, stylized as rediff.com, is an Indian news, information, entertainment, and shopping website. Founded by Ajit Balakrishnan in 1996, it was the first Indian website to become a mainstream news media organization. It is headquartered i ...
gave 3.5 out of 5: Bipin Chandran's screenplay discusses the ethical, moral and legal issues pertaining to such situations. There are elaborate court scenes that test our patience for two and a half hours. This is one of the fertile periods in Prithviraj's career and he makes it even better with this film. He has to be a breezily comic fellow in the first half that he does unpretentiously making this film yet another winner as far as his performance goes. He gets able support from Anoop Menon, Nedumudi Venu and Maniyanpilla Raju. Paavada can be called a decent effort only if we ignore the flaws. Indiaglitz rated 4 out of 5 and said The story, screenplay and dialogues by Bipin Chandran deserves credit. Director Marthandan could capture the essence of the story and deliver a good narration. Background score was conventional. Editing and cinematography were good with the editing being sharp and camera angles very effective, especially the dramatic part involving Prithviraj and the fight sequences. Performances from Prithviraj, Anoop Menon and Nedumudi were outstanding. Prithviraj has proved his range with this cinema as he lives as Joy onscreen. Anoop Menon holds his own in a demanding character. Miya was adorable as Joy's wife. "Paavada" is sure to stay around for a long time for its one-liners and humour.