Ayyappanum Koshiyum
| Ayyappanum Koshiyum | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Sachy |
| Written by | Sachy |
| Produced by | Ranjith P. M. Sasidharan |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Sudeep Elamon |
| Edited by | Ranjan Abraham |
| Music by | Jakes Bejoy |
Production company | Gold Coin Motion Picture Company |
| Distributed by | Central Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 176 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Budget | ₹million[1] |
| Box office | est. ₹520 million[1] |
Ayyappanum Koshiyum (transl. Ayyappan and Koshi) is a 2020 Indian Malayalam-language action thriller film written and directed by Sachy. It was produced by Ranjith and P. M. Sasidharan under the company Gold Coin Motion Picture Company. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon in the title roles. The story revolves around the conflict between Koshy Kurien, an influential and wealthy ex-Havildar and Ayyappan Nair, a Sub-inspector in Attappadi. The music was provided by Jakes Bejoy.
Principal photography took place from October to December 2019. Ayyappanum Koshiyum was released on 7 February 2020. The film met with positive response from critics and was a commercial success at the box office. The film's Telugu-language remake is under production as of January 2021.[2]
Plot
 | This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (October 2020) |
Koshy Kurien, an ex-Havildar is on the way to Ooty with his driver Kumaran. Koshy is drunk and nearly passed out on the car's backseat with a case full of alcohol. They have opted to take the Attappadi route, which they did not know was an alcohol prohibited region. There, the car is stopped on a routine traffic stop which is a combined police, forest and excise department checking. There on finding the alcohol in the car the excise officials manhandle Koshy. Koshy,irritated by this assaults the excise officer Faisal. On seeing this Ayyapan Nair steps in and restrains Koshy.
Taking Koshy to the police station, the officers are startled to see the name of well known political and media personalities on the contact list of Koshy's mobile phone. Koshy reveals himself to be the son of Kurian John and a rich and influential ex-havildar from the Indian army living in Kattappana. Fussing over this and over consultation with his superiors, Ayyapan Nair decides to go easy on him and reasons with him. Koshy asks Ayyappan to let him return home for 5 days to spend Christmas, and promises to return for any jail sentence. But, Ayyappan refuses, stating that he has been booked under Non-bailable sections and may not return home. Later Koshy fakes a meltdown and asks for some alcohol as he is an addict. Against his better instincts, Nair pours him some from the confiscated stock with help of a lady constable. Koshy secretly records this on his phone.
Koshy is remanded to 12 days in Palakkad sub-jail, where he is visited by his family. After 12 days, Koshi gets bail on condition that he has to sign once every Monday and Thursday at Attapadi station.at Upon his release, he uses the video footage to get SI Ayyappan Nair and a lady constable suspended for breaking prohibition. Ayyappan is suspended and arrested. He is brought out on bail by the Circle Inspector. The Circle inspector makes a compromise with koshy's dad's friend MLA George, that Koshi can sign for all future bail condition at same time, and end this melee, in return for not providing original video evidence at the enquiry against Ayyappan. After signing at the station, Koshi goes back on his word, and his lawyer submits the video proof at enquiry.
Ayyappan is heavily insulted by the enquiry commission at DSP office and Koshy meets him outside the DSP office and boards the bus to attapadi assumedly to apologise to him. But, due to ego, they both challenge one another and Ayyappan states that, for him the space in the bus is not enough for a clash. Koshy goes away in his car. Furious at this blatant act of pride, Nair savagely beats down a small time crook Kuttamani (who was aiding Koshy), in front of Koshy and demolishes Mani's illegal building.Koshy, visibly horrified at Ayyappan raining down fury on Mani, gets to know about Ayyappan’s story from the C.I. He finds out that at 25 years old, Ayyappan had killed 13 men who had been commissioned by the landlords to get rid of union workers during Kummatti at Mundoor. And he finds out that Ayyappan had a nickname during those days, Mundoor Maadan (vampire of Mundoor).Frustrated, Koshy goes to drink in Tamil Nadu. While returning to Attapadi, Koshi's driver is arrested and his car is impounded. Left without mobile, purse and other options, Koshy starts to walk to Attapadi. Ayyappan picks him up on his bike and both taunt each other with death threats. Deboarding from Ayyapan's bike, Koshy walks miles to Attapadi, where he is refused lodging as per Ayyappan's instructions. Koshy's phone is illegally given to Ayyappan by a young Constable. Ayyappan calls Koshy's dad and tells that his son will be in grave danger soon.
Hearing about this and concerned for his son's safety, Kurian John sends Koshy's cousins to aid him, and covertly send professional assailants as a precaution for his son's safety. The next day, Koshy and Ayyapan fight inside the police station, and the circle inspector splits them. The CI assigns two police to guard Koshy at all times. But, those police inform Ayyapan about Koshy's goons, and Ayyappan bashes them blue and black.
Koshy's dad uses his influence to get an arrest warrant for Nair's wife (and thus their toddler son) as she was affiliated with a Maoist organisation years ago. Koshy decides to end this issue once peacefully and frames a plan to save Ayyappan's job. While Koshy is away to help Ayyappan, the arrest warrant arrives and Ayyapan refuses to surrender his wife. This forces them to flee from Attapadi. Nair drops her and his son to safety. Since Koshy is not in Attapadi, Ayyappan goes to Koshy's house in Kattappana to find him. After a brief showdown with Kurian, Nair heads back to Attapadi to confront Koshy. Koshy demolishes Ayyappan’s house as revenge for the showdown at Kattappana, and Ayyappan burns down Koshy’s car with gun powder. Both face-off in a duel but Ayyappan locks Koshy in a bear grip and the two are separated by the police who arrive just in time., monitoring the tense situation, police protection has been assigned to Koshy. Kurian follows Ayyappan to Attapadi and tells Koshy that he will kill Ayyappan within 24 hours. Koshy informs police that his dad is in attapadi and that he is the one who sent goons to kills Ayyappan earlier. Kurien is arrested and imprisoned. When Ayyapan finally challenges Koshy, Koshy suggests an alternative, to have the showdown in the nearby Anaikatty town in the state of Tamil Nadu, beyond the jurisdiction of Kerala Police.
Nair agrees to this and after an epic showdown of exchanging blows, bear grips and tossing each other over a puddle of water he gains the upper hand. The IG and the rest of the police who were clandestinely watching the fight intervenes just when it seems that Nair is going to kill Koshy and pulls them apart. The Circle Inspector tells Nair that Koshy framed himself as an alcohol addict, and Nair had then poured alcohol for medical emergency to keep Koshy's blood alcohol level as required for sane functioning. This has resulted in all charges against Nair (for breaking prohibition) being dropped and him being reinstated to the police. Also the charges on Nair's wife have been dropped. A year later, Nair is transferred upon his request to Kattappana, after which he visits Koshy and shake hands with him.
Cast
- Prithviraj Sukumaran as Koshy Kurien
- Biju Menon as SI Ayyappan Nair / Mundoor Maadan
- Anil Nedumangad as CI Satheesh Kumar
- Gowri Nandha as Kannamma, Ayyappan's Wife
- Ranjith as Kurien John, Koshy's Father
- Ramesh Kottayam as Kumaran, Koshy's Driver
- Anu Mohan as CPO Sujith
- Anna Rajan as Ruby, Koshy's Wife
- Dhanya Ananya as Constable Jessy
- Aji John as Ummen
- Nandu Anand as Joby
- Sabumon Abdusamad as Kuttamani
- Alancier Ley Lopez as MLA K. C. George
- Pazhani Swami as Excise Sub Inspector Faisal
- Deepu G Panicker as CPO Sumesh
- Johny Antony as Himself
- Shaju Sreedhar as Jeokuttan
- Saleesh N. Sankaran as DYSP Cheriyan George
- Benzi Mathews as Advocate Rahim
- Renith Elamadu as Member
- Vinod Thomas as Sebastian
- Muhammad Musthafa
Production
Development
Ayyappanum Koshiyum is the second directorial of writer-turned-director Sachy after Anarkali (2015) which also had Prithviraj Sukumaran and Biju Menon in the main roles. Written by Sachy himself, the film was produced by film director and Sachy's long-term friend Ranjith along with P. M. Sasidharan under the production company Gold Coin Motion Picture Company.[3] The film's idea was first formed as a story about the relationship between Koshi and his driver, Sachy had two real-life friends resembling them, a jewelry owner and his driver. Later, a police sub-inspector was introduced into the plot, which took the story into its present form. Prithviraj played the lead role and Menon had a supporting role in their last collaboration, Anarkali. The film was titled Ayyappanum Koshiyum as Sachy wanted to state that both Prithviraj and Menon has equal importance in the story.[4] Sachy did not have anyone in mind for the two lead roles while screenwriting. Their casting was done after finishing the screenplay.[5]
Filming
Principal photography began in early October 2019 in Attappadi, Palakkad district.[6] It was completed in early December 2019.[7] Menon suffered burn injuries on hands and legs while filming in November.[8]
Soundtrack
| Ayyappanum Koshiyum | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | |||||
| Released | 10 February 2020 | ||||
| Genre | Feature film soundtrack | ||||
| Length | 16:00 | ||||
| Language | Malayalam | ||||
| Label | Manorama Music | ||||
| Producer | Jakes Bejoy | ||||
| Jakes Bejoy chronology | |||||
| |||||
| |||||
The songs featured in the film and background score were composed by Jakes Bejoy, while the lyrics have been penned by B. K. Harinarayanan, Rafeeq Ahmed, and Nanchamma. The soundtrack album was released on 10 February 2020 by Manorama Music.[9][10]
| No. | Title | Lyrics | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ariyathariyathe" | Rafeeq Ahmed | Kottakkal Madhu | 4:50 |
| 2. | "Thaalam Poyi" | Rafeeq Ahmed | Jakes Bejoy, Sangeethaa-Sangeetha Sajith, Nanjamma | 5:22 |
| 3. | "Kalakkatha" | Nanjamma | Nanjamma | 2:04 |
| 4. | "Adakachakko (Promo Song)" | B. K. Harinarayanan | Prithviraj Sukumaran, Biju Menon,Nanjamma | 3:44 |
| Total length: | 16:00 | |||
Release
Ayyappanum Koshiyum was released on 7 February 2020. The film is available on Amazon Prime Video with English subtitles.
Critical reception
The New Indian Express wrote: "This is essentially a masterclass by Sachy on how to make a three-hour film by relying mostly on dialogues which carry enough power to not just reverberate through the walls of the movie hall but also each cell and nerve in your body. With a script like this, one doesn't need bullets or pyrotechnics to excite the audience. Sachy does that with his characters, a rare skill that not many filmmakers possess today in Malayalam cinema", and praised the performances.[11] The Hindu wrote: "It is a dialogue-driven narrative, as much verbal as visual, but without over-punctuation or the burden of forced hilarity. The film also comes with a highly textured screenplay, creating an immaculate balance between lightness and intensity", and the cast gives a stand-out performance, also it is "nearly three hours of riveting reel time devoid of any customary gimmicks".[12] Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "...psychological flourishes make Ayyappanum Koshiyum a very different kind of masala movie about similar-yet-different, different-yet-similar men...as the film progresses, it becomes a very textured thing, with a bubbling undercurrent that keeps questioning a very specific kind of masculinity".[13]
The Times of India said that it is "a commercial film that reflects contemporary socio-political situations aptly" and Sachy "smartly scripts a story" that explains the struggles between an honest police officer and a rich spoiled brat, "the director manages to hold the audience in that compelling mood from start to finish" and "apart from a carefully written script with interesting characterisation, the casting is a bonus".[14] According to The News Minute, "Prithviraj and Biju Menon spar in an engaging film ... the movie keeps you engaged for nearly all the three hours with no dramatic twists or turns or characters turning a new leaf overnight".[15]
Box office
In the overseas opening weekend, it grossed US$36,253 (₹25.88 lakh) from 27 screens in the United States, US$3,562 (₹2.55 lakh) from 7 screens in Canada,[16] and A$24,227 (₹11.65 lakh) from 7 screens in Australia.[17] It grossed US$87,791 (₹65.03 lakh) in five weeks, A$47,689 (₹23.04 lakh) in Australia in four weeks, NZ$28,012 (₹12.71 lakh) in New Zealand in three weeks,[18] US$22,400 (₹16.17 lakh) in Canada in three weeks,[19] and £48,267 (₹44.74 lakh) in two weeks.[20] In its lifetime, Ayyappanum Koshiyum grossed ₹520 million at the global box office.[1]
References
- ^ a b c "John Abraham Gets Hindi Remake Rights Of Prithviraj-starrer Ayyappanum Koshiyum". Republic World. 26 May 2020. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
... the film was made in a budget of Rs 5 Crores and earned Rs 56 crores at the Box Office
- ^ "Rana Daggubati joins Pawan Kalyan in Ayyappanum Koshiyum's Telugu remake". The Indian Express. 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
- ^ "Prithviraj – Biju Menon film 'Ayyappanum Koshiyum' starts rolling". The News Minute. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
- ^ സെന്, ബൈജു പി. (4 February 2020). "ആ ചിന്തയില് നിന്നാണ് സിനിമയ്ക്ക് അയ്യപ്പനും കോശിയും എന്ന പേര് നല്കിയത്: സച്ചി അഭിമുഖം". Mathrubhumi (in Malayalam). Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ ചന്ദ്ര, അനു (6 February 2020). "നായകനും നായികയും വില്ലനുമില്ലാത്ത സിനിമയാണ് അയ്യപ്പനും കോശിയും -സച്ചി". Madhyamam Daily (in Malayalam). Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Biju Menon and Prithviraj sukumaran Ayyappanum Koshiyum on the Floor". The Times of India. 5 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
- ^ Express News Service (10 December 2019). "Prithviraj's 'Ayyappanum Koshiyum' wrapped up". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ "Actor Biju Menon suffers burns while shooting". Mathrubhumi. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Ayyappanum Koshiyum (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by Jakes Bejoy".
- ^ "Ayyappanum Koshiyum - All Songs - Download or Listen Free - JioSaavn" – via www.jiosaavn.com.
- ^ Express News Service (8 February 2020). "'Ayyappanum Koshiyum' review: A strong script backed by screen-burning performances". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
- ^ Sudhish, Navamy (9 February 2020). "'Ayyappanum Koshiyum' film review: Prithviraj and Biju Menon shine in this near-perfect entertainer". The Hindu. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Ayyappanum Koshiyum, with Prithviraj And Biju Menon, Is On Amazon Prime: This Entertaining Action-Drama Is More Than Just An Empty Action-Drama". FilmCompanion. 10 June 2020.
- ^ George, Anjana (9 February 2020). "Ayyappanum Koshiyum Movie Review: A commercial film that reflects contemporary socio-political situations aptly". The Times of India. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ Cris (7 February 2020). "'Ayyappanum Koshiyum' review: Prithviraj and Biju Menon spar in an engaging film". The News Minute. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
- ^ "Malang collects 700k USD [Rs. 5 cr.] in overseas". Bollywood Hungama. 10 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ "Love Aaj Kal collects 1.1 mil. USD [Rs. 7.85 cr.] in overseas". Bollywood Hungama. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 22 February 2020.
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (9 March 2020). "Baaghi 3 collects approx. 2.32 mil USD [Rs. 17.23 cr.] in overseas : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama".
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (24 February 2020). "Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan collects approx. 900k USD [Rs. 6.48 cr.] in overseas : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama".
- ^ Hungama, Bollywood (2 March 2020). "Thappad collects approx. 600k USD [Rs. 4.37 cr.] in overseas : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama".