Velipadinte Pusthakam

The film was produced by Antony Perumbavoor through Aashirvad Cinemas; it stars Mohanlal and Anoop Menon, while Priyanka Nair, Siddique, Salim Kumar, Sanjeev M Pillai, Chemban Vinod Jose and Anna Rajan in supporting roles. Shaan Rahman composed the film’s soundtrack and score.

The film follows the lives of many people associated with a lesser-known seaside college. When a newly-appointed vice principal acts in a fundraising film for his college, problems begin to rise as he unveils the truth behind a crime and gets absorbed in it. Principal photography took place between May and July 2017, primarily in the neighbourhoods of Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha in Kerala.

Velipadinte Pusthakam was released in India on 31 August 2017. The song “Entammede Jimikki Kammal” from the film sung by Vineeth Sreenivasan and Renjith Unni was a viral hit attracting national and international attention for the first time in the Malayalam music industry.

As he fights his attackers, two men—Maathan Tharakan (Siddique) and Kaaka Rameshan (Chemban Vinod Jose)—arrive. Maathan hits Vishwan with a steel bar, killing him.

Prof. Premraj, also called Kamaraj (Salim Kumar), is the vice-principal of a college who tries to stop relationships between male and female students while continuing a relationship with a cleaner, and watches pornographic videos. Two student gangs; the ‘kadappuram’ (seafront) gang led by Franklin (Appani Sarath) and the ‘Thiruvananthapuram’ (city) gang led by Sameer (Arun Kurian) are always at loggerheads with each other. During one of these fights, the gangs break a picture of Vishwan. Premraj installs CCTV cameras in the campus. Franklin’s friend Vignyanaakoshi (Jude Anthany Joseph) interferes with the system to show pornographic videos; Premraj turns on the monitor, sees the videos and is caught by Fr. George Kaattuparambu (Shivaji Guruvayoor), who suspends him from his job. Premraj tells Sameer and his gang he is innocent of the offence but is being replaced as vice-principal and is powerless to act. He orders the gang to break the new vice-principal’s legs; Sameer agrees to this and the gang hold a small protest by the gate as Premraj’s replacement arrives. Franklin also arrives and congratulates the new vice-principal.

The new vice-principal is Michael Idicula (Mohanlal), who avoids Sameer’s plan to break his legs. He introduces himself to the teachers, including Mary (Anna Rajan). Michael’s first class of students—especially Sameer, who was praised for making a short film—seem to like him. This disappoints Franklin, who was expecting Michael to befriend Franklin instead. One day, Michael meets Franklin’s father Varkey (Prasad Mohammah), who is drunk and invites Michael to his house. He meets Franklin’s family. Later, the physics teacher Anumol (Sneha Sreekumar), who is Mary’s friend, decides to propose to Michael on her behalf. When they go to meet Michael, he tells them to meet after the morning Mass at the local Latin church. They discover Michael is a priest and wonder why he still did not marry. Anumol and Mary cancel their planned proposal; instead Anumol asks Michael if he knows anyone willing to marry Mary, to which Michael agrees. Meanwhile, Michael reconciles Sameer and Franklin and their gangs, and they also meet Vareethettan (Alencier Ley Lopez), who has been serving Michael’s family for a long time.

Michael, as vice-principal, is popular with the students and the staff. When Michael suggests making a feature film to raise money for building two hostels for the college, Fr. Kaattuparambu gives permission, providing only the Phoenix College staff and students are in the film. Michael calls his friend, Malayalam film producer Vijay Babu, about the project, and he agrees to take part. According to Vijay, the story is only suitable for a short film and Michael suggests the story of Vishwan, who had campaigned for a college to be built on land originally owned by Maathan Tharakan. He describes Vishwan as a violent but honest man who always did the right thing whenever he could. Maathan Tharakan killed Vishwan the day after the college’s cornerstone was laid, and paid to have his right-hand man Kaaka Rameshan sent to jail. Vijay says the story is perfect and goes ahead with the project.

Auditions for the film’s characters are held and all of the roles except that of Vishwan—whom no-one portrays well—are cast. Because of this, Vijay decides to freeze the project. They eventually find someone who is perfect for the role—Michael—who changes his appearance completely. The film’s production begins.

Principal photography of the film begins; all of the actors—except Premraj (portraying Maathan Tharakan), who has difficulties in acting—perform well. Meanwhile, Michael meets Vishwan’s widow Jayanthi (Priyanka Nair) and her second daughter Sreekutty, who explain that their first daughter died. One night, Premraj is beaten up by the real Maathan Tharakan and his gang, who warn him Michael will suffer the same fate if he carries on with the film. Michael goes to meet Maathan and tells him filming must continue. One night, Maathan tells Michael the story about Vishwan’s death is wrong and that Kaaka Rameshan was the true killer; Vishwan was killed because he married Rameshan’s lover Jayanthi. Shocked, Michael asks Sameer & Franklin to restructure the climax; after much argument, both agrees to the demands.

The crew film the death of Vishwan’s first child. After the filming, Michael signs a form in the name of Vishwan, shocking Vareethettan. He tells the staff and students Michael’s father resented his son becoming a priest and forcibly removed him from the seminary; this incident affected Michael as a psychological illness. Vareethettan says Michael adopts the personality of characters he really likes, and asks them to stop Michael from acting. Michael vanishes but he—still speaking as Vishwan—threatens Varkey into revealing how Vishwan’s first daughter died; Varkey says Kaaka Rameshan drowned her in a pond. Varkey told the real Vishwan everything and Vishwan started fighting Rameshan and got himself killed. The next day, Rameshan is released from jail and tells some of the people there he killed Vishwan, shocking everyone. Rameshan creates a fuss at the filming and then arrives at the climax scene. There, Michael—who is supposed to be receiving a whack on the head from another actor—stops and beats up the actor. Rameshan gets involved and tells the crew he killed Vishwan, angering Michael, who nearly kills Rameshan.

Vishwan’s death is not depicted in the students’ film; instead a caption tells the audience; “Vishwan lives in the minds of everyone”. Michael’s illness has been cured and the bishop explains that Michael is the best person to inaugurate the new hostel. He does this and announces that he will become the new principal of the Phoenix College. The film ends as all of them stands together to take a selfie.