Palunku
Encyclopedia
Palunku is a 2006 Malayalam-language drama film
written and directed by Blessy
. It stars Mammootty
in the lead role with Baby Nazriya Nazim, Lakshmi Sharma, Baby Nivedita
and Jagathy Sreekumar
playing other pivotal roles. Lakshmi Sharma made her debut as an actress with this film. The film exposes the trappings of consumerism and how city life changes the perspective and priorities of an ordinary farmer portrayed by Mammootty.
The film was mainly shot at various locations in Muvattupuzha
and Thodupuzha
. It released on 22 December 2006 to critical acclaim. The film was noted for its relevant plot, the performances of the lead actors and the directional excellence of Blessy. However, it did only an average business at the Kerala box office. Mammootty won the Best Actor Award at the annual Kerala Film Critics Awards for the portrayal of Monichan, a down-to-earth farmer driven to the verge of suicide by the loan sharks.
At a juncture in his life, he is forced to take his daughters to a school in the town, simply because the school in his village cannot accommodate his elder daughter, who is in fifth standard, as there are not enough students to run classes. Thus Geethu and Neethu join an English medium school. Monichan brings the children to school every morning and hangs around in town till evening to take them back.
In the course of this routine, Monichan gets close to Soman Pillai, a shrewd lottery agent, who knows all kinds of short-cuts to earn money. Soman Pillai becomes Monichan's advisor. Monichan buys a bicycle and the father and the daughters now travel to town and back on the bicycle. In the meantime Monichan joins a class conducted for elders and starts learning to read and write Malayalam as well as English. A minor accident makes Monichan shift over to the town along with his family.
Once in town, Monichan finds himself entrapped in a vicious circle. He, with the help of Soman Pillai, begins to tread down the wrong path - lending out money, and doing things not entirely above board. His life changes slowly. He is no longer the naive farmer he used to be. Even his wife has changed, spending her time watching soap operas on TV and dreaming about modern household amenities. But fate has something else in store for them.
, Baby Nazriya Nazim and the directional excellence of Blessy
got exceptional response from both the audience as well as critics. The film did well at many award functions. Mammootty
was awarded the Best Actor award at the precious Kerala Film Critics Award.
A review by The Hindu
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."
with lyrics penned by Kaithapram.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Blessy
Blessy
Blessy is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has made several critically acclaimed films in Malayalam. As a film director, he is influenced by Padmarajan and Bharathan.- Career :...
. It stars Mammootty
Mammootty
Mammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
in the lead role with Baby Nazriya Nazim, Lakshmi Sharma, Baby Nivedita
Baby Nivedita
Niveditha is a Malayalam child actress who has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist for her acting in the 2009 Horror film Kaana Kanmani and the thriller Bhramaram. She has an elder sister named Niranjana who is also an actress...
and Jagathy Sreekumar
Jagathy Sreekumar
Sreekumar Achary, better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar, is an Indian film actor who has performed in more than 1,000 Malayalam films. He has also directed two films and has written screenplays for two films...
playing other pivotal roles. Lakshmi Sharma made her debut as an actress with this film. The film exposes the trappings of consumerism and how city life changes the perspective and priorities of an ordinary farmer portrayed by Mammootty.
The film was mainly shot at various locations in Muvattupuzha
Muvattupuzha
Muvattupuzha is a municipality in Ernakulam district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is a junction of three districts namely Ernakulam, Kottayam and Idukki. The town is bordered by Kottayam district on southern side and Idukki district on eastern side approximately 20 km from the town...
and Thodupuzha
Thodupuzha
Thodupuzha is a town and a municipality in Idukki district in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 35.43 km2. It is 62 km from Ernakulam. Geographical Classification of Thodupuzha Region is Midland or Idanad....
. It released on 22 December 2006 to critical acclaim. The film was noted for its relevant plot, the performances of the lead actors and the directional excellence of Blessy. However, it did only an average business at the Kerala box office. Mammootty won the Best Actor Award at the annual Kerala Film Critics Awards for the portrayal of Monichan, a down-to-earth farmer driven to the verge of suicide by the loan sharks.
Plot
Palunku tells the story of an industrious farmer Monichan and his family, which consists of his wife Susamma, and his daughters Geethu and Neethu, whom he lovingly calls 'Ponnu' and 'Kilunthu'. Monichan is happy with his life as a farmer and loves his family, his profession, nature and the people around him.At a juncture in his life, he is forced to take his daughters to a school in the town, simply because the school in his village cannot accommodate his elder daughter, who is in fifth standard, as there are not enough students to run classes. Thus Geethu and Neethu join an English medium school. Monichan brings the children to school every morning and hangs around in town till evening to take them back.
In the course of this routine, Monichan gets close to Soman Pillai, a shrewd lottery agent, who knows all kinds of short-cuts to earn money. Soman Pillai becomes Monichan's advisor. Monichan buys a bicycle and the father and the daughters now travel to town and back on the bicycle. In the meantime Monichan joins a class conducted for elders and starts learning to read and write Malayalam as well as English. A minor accident makes Monichan shift over to the town along with his family.
Once in town, Monichan finds himself entrapped in a vicious circle. He, with the help of Soman Pillai, begins to tread down the wrong path - lending out money, and doing things not entirely above board. His life changes slowly. He is no longer the naive farmer he used to be. Even his wife has changed, spending her time watching soap operas on TV and dreaming about modern household amenities. But fate has something else in store for them.
Cast
- MammoottyMammoottyMammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
as Monichan - Baby Nazriya Nazim as Geethu
- Lakshmi Sharma as Susamma
- Baby NiveditaBaby NiveditaNiveditha is a Malayalam child actress who has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist for her acting in the 2009 Horror film Kaana Kanmani and the thriller Bhramaram. She has an elder sister named Niranjana who is also an actress...
as Neethu - Jagathy SreekumarJagathy SreekumarSreekumar Achary, better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar, is an Indian film actor who has performed in more than 1,000 Malayalam films. He has also directed two films and has written screenplays for two films...
as Soman Pillai - Nedumudi VenuNedumudi VenuNedumudi Venu is a popular Malayalam film actor from Kerala, India. He has also written screenplays and has directed one film.- Early life :...
as Teacher - Thampi Antony as Prof. Sukumaran Nair
- Santhakumari as Lalitha
- Kottayam Santha as Ammayi
- SubairSubairSubair was an Indian film actor in Malayalam cinema industry. He was part of Malayalam films for nearly two decades and has acted in around 200 films.-Personal life:...
as Police Officer
Critical reception
The film received overwhelming positive critical reviews. The performances of lead actor MammoottyMammootty
Mammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
, Baby Nazriya Nazim and the directional excellence of Blessy
Blessy
Blessy is an Indian film director and screenwriter who has made several critically acclaimed films in Malayalam. As a film director, he is influenced by Padmarajan and Bharathan.- Career :...
got exceptional response from both the audience as well as critics. The film did well at many award functions. Mammootty
Mammootty
Mammootty is an Indian film actor and producer who works mainly in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in a few Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada films. During a career spanning more than three decades, he has acted in more than 360 films, and is only next to Prem Nazir in the number of lead roles...
was awarded the Best Actor award at the precious Kerala Film Critics Award.
A review by The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
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."
Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the film is composed by Mohan SitharaMohan Sithara
Mohan Sithara, is a leading malayalam film music composer in Kerala. He is very much talented in making super hit songs. He won Kerala State Award for applying music for the songs in Priyanandan's "Sufi Paranja Kadha". Since 1986 he is an active musician in malayalam film industry...
with lyrics penned by Kaithapram.
- Maanathe Velli - Dr. K. J. YesudasK. J. YesudasKattassery Joseph Yesudas is an Indian classical musician and playback singer.Yesudas sings Indian classical, devotional, and popular music. He has recorded more than 50,000 songs in many languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi, Punjabi,...
- Pottu Thotta - P. Jayachandran, Jassie GiftJassie GiftJassie Gift is a Malayalam film music composer and singer from Thiruvananthapuram, India. He became famous after his song "Lajjavathiye" in the film 4 the people.-Biography:...
, Sheela Mani - Ettuvatta Kettum - G. VenugopalG. VenugopalG. Venugopal is an Indian playback singer, active mainly in Malayalam films. He also has Tamil and Telugu songs to his credit. Venugopal started his career in the film Odarathammava Aalariyam and has sung in more than 280 films and over 250 albums since then.G. Venugopal is a graduate of Kerala...
, Anwar Sadath - Neruparayanam - Madhu BalakrishnanMadhu BalakrishnanMadhu Balakrishnan is an Indian playback singer, who sings in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada languages.-Biography:Madhu Balakrishnan is from Tripunithura, Cochin, Kerala in India. A Graded artist in All India Radio and Doordarshan, he has performed with all major playback singers in Kerala...
, Anu