Ennum Eppozhum

Premise

Ennum Eppozhum tells the story of two people - Vineeth N Pillai (Mohanlal) a senior reporter of Vanitharatnam magazine, who is a sloth and lacks inspiration in his work and Deepa (Manju Warrier), a junior family court lawyer who is eager to do pro bono cases and for the goodwill of the society. Vineeth is holding on to this job due to his mother's rapport with the magazine management. Vineeth's new boss Kalyani (Reenu Mathews) wants to throw out Vineeth from his position due to his negligence in duty. He has to interview Deepa for the new edition of the magazine. But he not even able to present the need of an appointment with her due to Deepa's schedule and other commitments. Finally, Vineeth becomes close with Deepa and with her child and friends through a series of humiliating events. Out of pressure, he throws his resignation at Kalyani but is later reinstated in his post by her mother. Kalyani becomes attracted to Vineeth, but it leaves in the air without much response. Deepa lands in a trouble and Vineeth helps her and the resulting events are narrated through the film.

Cast

Development

Sathyan Anthikad announced that his next film after Oru Indian Pranayakadha will be a Mohanlal starrer for Aashirvad Cinemas. Since Snehaveedu (2011), Mohanlal and Sathyan are collaborating after a gap of 4 years. Antony Perumbavoor has been the producer of all their movies since Rasathanthram. Initially it was reported to be the comeback film of Sathyan Anthikad-Sreenivasan-Mohanlal team. Sathyan later denied the reports and said that he is planning a different project for Aashirvad Cinemas, even though a project with Mohanlal-Sreenivasan project is also in pipeline.

After Snehaveedu, Sathyan made it clear that he will not be again writing scripts for his own films. Since 2006, he has been writing his own scripts, which led to criticism that he has been rehashing his earlier hits. In March, Sathyan Anthikad announced that Ranjan Pramod will be scripting the film based on actor Raveendran's story. Ennum Eppozhum be the third film for Sathyan written by Ranjan after Manassinakkare (2003) and Achuvinte Amma (2005). Ranjan has earlier scripted Mohanlal starred Naran (2005) and Photographer (2006) (which as also his directorial debut). Sameer Thahir was initially announced as the cinematographer, who was later replaced by Neil D'Cunha of Philips and the Monkey Pen (2013) fame. Vidyasagar and Rafeeq Ahammed returns as the music composer and lyricist respectively after Oru Indian Pranayakadha.

Writing the script Ranjan said, "It is a challenge for any writer to pen a script to accommodate two brilliant actors like Mohanlal and Manju with such huge fan followings." It was Antony Perumbavoor who called Ranjan to script the film. Earlier, Aashirvad Cinemas had an agreement with Ranjan to make a film with Manju, which did not materialize. So Antony asked him whether he would be able to write a script for her and Mohanlal. So Ranjan had to postpone a film that he was planning to direct for scripting the film.

Casting

In August, Manju Warrier was confirmed to play the female lead as Adv. Deepa. This is her first film with Mohanlal after her comeback. Reenu Mathews was roped in to play the role of Kalyani. She joined the sets in the second schedule in January. Innocent plays the role of Kariachan, a retired postmaster while Lena plays Farah, Deepa's best friend cum a boutique owner. Jacob Gregory of ABCD: American-Born Confused Desi (2013) fame plays the role of videographer Maathan who assists Vineeth in his assignments. Drama artist Usha S. Karunagapally plays the role of Kariachan's wife Rosy, a radio announcer while Baby Adhwika was chosen for the role of Deepa's daughter Miya.

Filming

The film was originally scheduled to start filming on 31 October 2014, and Mohanlal was said to join on the next day. The filming commenced on November 1, 2014 at Kochi. The film took a schedule break on November 15 when Mohanlal went for his Antarctica trip. The second schedule commenced on December 4. By the end of January 2015, the shooting got completed and entered into post-production stage. Sathyan Anthikkad who is known for naming his films only during its filming or in the post-production stage, officially announced the title Ennum Eppozhum on February 8.

Release

The film released on 27 March 2015, in 215 centers all over India (89 centers in Kerala), making it the biggest release for a Sathyan Anthikad cinema. MAS Film and Entertainment distributed the film in Europe, while Achu and Achu's Creations in Australia, and New Zealand, Singapore Coliseum in Singapore and Celluloid Japan in Japan.

The film underwent censoring on March 19, 2015. As expected the film attained a "U" certificate with a running time of 2 hours 27 minutes. The censor board suggested the film to be a clean family entertainer. The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) passed the film uncut and awarded a 12A certificate in Europe.

Marketing

The first look poster was released by Mohanlal and Manju Warrier through their official Facebook pages on February 20, 2015. The poster featured Mohanlal and Manju having conversation on a bench. A 35 second long teaser was released in YouTube on February 26. The teaser contained a scene where Vineeth comes in search of Adv. Deepa at her house and features a funny conversation between Vineeth and a Hindi speaking gurkha. The Hindi conversation was a nostalgic reminder of Sathyan Anthikad's Mohanlal starred classic Gandhinagar 2nd Street. The teaser was gone viral within seconds of its release. Another 35 second teaser was released on March 4, which introduced the various images of Manju Warrier's character, Adv. Deepa and focusing more on her boldness and strong perception towards life.

The official website was launched on March 14, 2015. The trailer was released on March 19, 2015, which indicated the film to be a typical Sathyan Anthikad cinema.

Home media

The Blu-ray, DVD and VCD of Ennum Eppozhum was released by Central Home Entertainment.

Critical response

The film mostly received mixed reviews.

Malayala Manorama rated 3.5 out of 5 stars and said "The highlight of the film is its director-actors combo". "Ennum Eppozhum is for you, if you belong to that set of people who believe that films should be as light as possible since life is unbearably heavy". Gulf News wrote "Ennum Eppozhum is a clean family drama. Ennum Eppozhum makes no lofty pretensions but narrates a simple story that could be yours, or your neighbour’s or maybe the woman up the alley". The Hindu stated, "Ennum Eppozhum is a family drama that sans the drama. Ennum Eppozhum is buoyed by its star cast and a host of light moments though not particularly funny. This is the second in series aimed at bringing back star power of Manju Warrier. Its romance is treated with subtlety and without challenging conservative beliefs, making one drive to open conclusions and ‘drivel confusion’.

Awards

Box office

Ennum Eppozhum opened well at the box office. According to the Film Producers Association of Kerala, the film is a "Hit" even though it could not meet the high expectations of the audience. It was added that the film "would break even and certainly bring profits to the producer". The association also said that the report card for the first quarter of 2015 looked bleak except for the success of Oru Vadakkan Selfie and Ennum Eppozhum. However, Suresh Shenoy stated that the Vishu festival season of 2015 had "turned out to be a dampener except for the continuing rush for Oru Vadakkan Selfie". The film is one of the profitable Malayalam films in the first half of 2015. As per June 2015, the film grossed ₹9 crore (US$1.4 million) from Kerala box office.

Soundtrack

The film features a soundtrack composed by Vidyasagar with lyrics penned by Rafeeq Ahammed. The audio rights of the film were purchased by Satyam Music. The complete album was released on 15 March 2015 and received positive responses from critics. The song 'Dhithiki Dhithiki' had Manju Warrier doing a classical dance.