Puthiya Niyamam

Plot

Louis Pothen is a television film critic, an artist, a divorce lawyer and also participates in a live TV channel named "Kathrika". His wife Vasuki Iyer is a Kathakali artist and they live together along with their school going daughter. They live away from their parents since their marriage was an inter-caste one.

Vasuki is raped by her two neighbors and their cloth presser. Vasuki is frightened to discuss with her husband about her being raped. Vasuki with DCP Jeena Bhai's telephonic assistance kills her rapists. Vasuki assures DCP that she would never have any contacts with her in the future and if they meet accidentally, would behave like strangers.

It is revealed that Louis was informed by Swami of his wife being raped. Swami had witnessed Vasuki being raped from his house but did not have the courage to save Vasuki since the rapists were notorious and drug addicts. Louis through a mobile software (which can transform a male voice to a female voice) mimicked DCP Jeena Bhai and guided Vasuki to murder her rapists . Louis never reveals the truth to Vasuki and decides to keep it as a secret so that they could lead a happy married life.

Development

In July 2015, it was reported that Mammootty and Nayantara would play an inter-caste couple in A. K. Sajan's forthcoming film. The film was reported to be initially planned with Suresh Gopi in lead. It was also reported that Sajan initially wrote the script with Renji Panicker in mind for the lead role, with Muthumani as heroine. But after hearing the script, Renji noted that the script demands a "larger scale" production and suggested Mammootty for the lead role. As per Ranji's suggestion when Sajan approached Mammootty, the offer was immediately accepted by him. Regarding the characters, A. K. Sajan says, "Mammootty's character in the film, Louis Pothen, almost mirrors his real life personality. He's an easy-going lawyer, who is also a film critic and has a socialist leaning. However, Nayanthara's character Vasuki is diametrically opposite."

Filming and post-production

Principal photography commenced on 21 August. The film was initially titled Solomonte Koodaram, but later changed to Puthiya Niyamam. The title was revealed through its first look poster on 27 October 2015. The filming was completed by October 2015 in Ernakulam and Thrissur.

The costumes that Mammootty's character Louis Pothen has to don in film were purchased from Dubai by Mammootty himself. Roby Varghese Raj who was an assistant of cinematographers Rajeev Menon and Jomon T. John debuted as an independent cinematographer in the film.

Editing was done at the residence of Vivek Harshan in Chennai. Harshan, the National Award-winning film editor, was in commitment for six films simultaneously and edited Puthiya Niyamam at the insistence of director Sajan. The post-production works including Mammootty's dubbing were completed in December. However, Nayanthara was unimpressed with the dubbing of her character and expressed her desire to dub for herself. As it would be her debut dubbing in Malayalam language, a dubbing trial was conducted in Chennai in mid-January 2016.

Music

The film consists of two songs composed by Gopi Sunder And Vinu Thomas. But shows only one song in the film.

Box office

The film collected the gross amount of ₹1.23 crore (US$180,000) and ₹1.58 crore (US$230,000) on the first two days in Kerala box office. Puthiya Niyamam has reportedly collected ₹8.12 crore (US$1.2 million). The AK Sajan directorial had completed more than 7,000 shows in Kerala alone as of March 19. The film grossed ₹14.33 lakh (US$21,000) after 2 weekends at US box office.

Critical reception

Sanjith Sidhardhan of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 concluding, "Puthiya Niyamam is an intense tale elevated by the screen presence of its protagonists. It has a fresh take on certain aspects and is worth a one-time watch." Rating 3.5 out of 5, Akhila Menon of Filmibeat called the film "a perfect thriller" and appreciated Mammootty and Nayantara for their performance and "exceptional" screen chemistry, A. K Sajan for his direction and "brilliantly-written" script and Gopi Sundar for his "extraordinary" background score. The critic said, "The movie is engaging from the beginning till the end, even though most of the scenes are restricted to the lead characters." Anu James of International Business Times also gave a rating of 3.5 in a scale of 5, saying "With thrilling moments accompanied by right amount of comedy, AK Sajan's scripting in "Puthiya Niyamam" makes the movie interesting and thought provoking," and noted Nayanthara's performance as her "career-best".