''Punyam Aham'' is a 2010

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Malayalam 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 ...

-language film directed by

Raj Nair Raj Nair is an Indian author and filmmaker who writes in his native language Malayalam and English. Biography His first poem was published at the age of eleven followed by short stories and his first novel in the year 2000, ''Nishabdathayile ...

. Prithviraj,

Samvrutha Sunil Samvritha Sunil (born 31 October 1986) is an Indian former actress who appeared mainly in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 2004 through the film '' Rasikan'' directed by Lal Jose. She has acted in over 47 movies. Her best known films i ...

, and

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 ...

play the lead roles in this film.

Plot

''Punyam Aham'' is set in a small village in northern

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The protagonist is Narayan Unni, a young man with a

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

father and a low-caste mother, who are separated, leaving the mother to raise him alone. The film tells the story of Unni leaving home and searching for his identity, and then repeating many of his father's mistakes in life. It is based on the story in traditional

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

about Naranath Bhranthan and his father

Vararuchi Vararuci (also transliterated as Vararuchi) () is a name associated with several literary and scientific texts in Sanskrit and also with various legends in several parts of India. This Vararuci is often identified with Kātyāyana. Kātyāyana is ...

Cast

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 ...

as Naarayanan Unni *

as Jayasree *

as Kaarackal Easwaran Namboodiri * Nedumudi Harikumar as Shopkeeper *

Nishanth Sagar Nishanth Balakrishnan (born 8 June 1980), known professionally by his stage name Nishanth Sagar , is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in over 50 films. Career Nishant Sagar made his Malayala ...

as Georgekutty * Roslin as Antharjanam *

Sona Nair Sona Nair is an Indian actress working mainly in Malayalam cinema who is also best known for her roles in television soaps. Personal life Sona Nair attended Al-Uthuman Higher Secondary School, Kazhakoottam, Trivandrum, where her mother was ...

as Eldest Sister *

K. P. A. C. Lalitha Maheshwari Amma, better known by her stage name K. P. A. C. Lalitha (10 March 1947 – 22 February 2022), was an Indian film and stage actress who worked primarily in the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. Considered one of the greatest ...

as Jayasree's Amma * M. R. Gopakumar as Pappanassar *

Sreejith Ravi Sreejith Ravi (born 19 May 1976) is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Malayalam films and also in Tamil films. He is the son of actor T. G. Ravi. Early life Sreejith is the son of actor and industrialist T. G. Ravi and V. K. Sub ...

as Pankan *Sreekala VK as Narayanan's mother *Binda as Younger sister

Production

''Punyam Aham'' was the directorial debut of

, the grandson of novelist Thakazhi Shivashankara Pillai. Filming began in January 2009 at

Ottapalam Ottapalam (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk, and municipality in the Palakkad District of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ottapalam taluk and is located approximately 34 km (21 mi) from the Palakkad (district ...

, and then shifted to

Kuttanad Kuttanad is a river delta landscape region in the state of Kerala, India, known for its vast paddy fields and geographical peculiarities. It is in the Districts of Alappuzha, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta. The region has the lowest altitude in ...

. It premiered at the

Mumbai International Film Festival The Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short and Animation Films (MIFF) is a festival organized in the city of Mumbai (formerly Bombay) by the Films Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Infor ...

in October 2010.

Critical reception

Paresh C. Palicha writing for Rediff Movies criticised the plot as "too intellectual".Rediff Movies: Punyam Aham is too intellectual
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References

External links

*

on OneIndia.in 2010 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Films shot in Kannur Films shot in Thalassery Films shot in Kozhikode Films shot in Ottapalam Films shot in Alappuzha {{2010s-Malayalam-film-stub