# Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil

Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil (transl. Infront of Guruvayoor Temple) is a 2024 Indian Malayalam-language slapstick comedy film directed by Vipin Das, written by Deepu Pradeep and jointly produced by Prithviraj Productions and E4 Entertainment. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Basil Joseph, Nikhila Vimal, and Anaswara Rajan.
The film was released on 16 May 2024, and received positive reviews from the critics and emerged as a blockbuster at the box office, becoming the 9th highest grossing Malayalam film of all time and 6th highest grossing Malayalam film of 2024.

## Plot

Vinu Ramachandran is a young executive working in Dubai. He is engaged to Anjali and forms a close acquaintance with her brother, Anandan, who works as a plant manager at a factory in Jamshedpur. It has been five years since Vinu's breakup with his ex-girlfriend, Parvathy but he still isn't able to move-on. Anandan coaches Vinu in overcoming his feelings of betrayal. However, Anandan is also not leading a perfectly happy life, as he is temporarily separated from his wife who is also named Parvathy, after an anonymous letter slandering her had arrived to Anandan. Vinu, who now considers Anandan as the brother he never had, he takes it upon himself to ensure happiness in Anandan's life as well and helps him to reunite with Parvathy.
However, things go haywire when Vinu and Anandan meet in-person for the first time as it turns out that the Parvathy in both of their lives happens to be the same person. This causes a rift in their cordial relationship. Initially, Vinu tries to stop the wedding due to the awkward situation with the help of his friends. He enlists his colleague Kunjunni's help as well to stop the wedding, but Kunjunni backs out since Anandan is his friend from school as well, and he doesn't want to get involved. Later Vinu, after talking with Anjali, realizes their happiness is what matters, and decides to proceed with the wedding. Meanwhile, Anandan learns that Vinu's ex-girlfriend is his own wife. He thinks that the love letter which was sent to Parvathy was sent by Vinu. He immediately sets out to stop the wedding.
Kunjunni meanwhile decides to help Vinu and tries to ruin the wedding, but an angry Vinu slaps him, leading to Kunjunni joining Anandan's side to try to stop the wedding at all cost. Vinu attempts to stop Anandan along with the help of his friends and younger brother, whereas Anandan tries to stop the wedding at any cost, with the help of his uncles. His uncles have their own agenda to create problems for Anandan's family, since they are in a direct fight with Anandan's father Sudevan. Meanwhile, Vinu's old friend turned enemy, Saravanan, whose marriage he had ruined unintentionally, as well as a stalker, George, who used to follow Anjali, try to stop the wedding by themselves.
Finally, on the day of the wedding, Anandan gets closure after talking with Parvathy and her father as well as his own parents and realises that they had known about the relation of Parvathy and Vinu long ago. He also realises that the love letter sent to Parvathy was actually sent by his uncles to create a rift in the family. After learning the truth and realising his mistake, Anandan trashes up Saravanan, George and Kunjunni as well as his uncles and proceeds to prevent any disruption of the wedding, with Sudevan's permission. Finally, Vinu marries Anjali amidst all the chaos and makes peace with Parvathy. The story ends happily with Vinu and Anjali, as well as Anandan and Parvathy, happy together.

## Cast

* Prithviraj Sukumaran as Anandan Sudevan, Vinu's brother-in-law and friend
* Basil Joseph as Kaitholaparambil Vinu Ramachandran, Anandan's brother-in-law and friend
* Nikhila Vimal as Parvathy, Anandan's wife and Vinu's ex-girlfriend
* Anaswara Rajan as Anjali Sudevan, Anandan's sister, Parvathy's sister-in-law and Vinu's fiancée later wife
* Yogi Babu as Saravanan, Vinu's friend
* Siju Sunny as Shamsudheen, Vinu's friend
* Saaf as Kaitholaparambil Anirudhan "Ani" Ramachandran, Vinu's younger brother
* Jagadish as Sudevan, Anandan's and Anjali's father and Vinu's and Parvathy's father-in-law
* Baiju Santhosh as Dr. Purushothaman, Parvathy's father and Anandan's father-in-law
* Rekha as Raji Sudevan, Anandan's and Anjali's mother and Vinu's and Parvathy's mother-in-law
* Irshad as Murali (Cheriyammavan), Raji's younger brother
* Ramesh Kottayam as Sreedharan (Valiyammavan), Raji's elder brother
* P.P. Kunhikrishnan as Kaitholapparambil Ramachandran, Vinu's and Ani's father and Anjali's later father-in-law
* Usha Chandrababu as Latha Ramachandran, Vinu's and Ani's mother and Anjali's later mother-in-law
* Priya Sreejith as Nandini, Purushothaman's wife, Parvathy's mother and Anandan's mother-in-law
* Kudassanad Kanakam as Ramani
* Joemon Jyothir as Dr. George, Anjali's stalker
* Akhil Kavaliyoor as Kunjunni, Vinu's colleague
* Aswin Vijayan as Mayinkutty V, Vinu's friend
* Noah Nishin as Appoos, Anandan's and Parvathy's son, Purushothaman's and Sudevan's grandson, and Vinu's and Anjali's nephew
* Aju Varghese as playback singer at Guruvayur Temple (cameo appearance)
* Aravind Akash as Unnikrishnan (special appearance)
* Anshitha Akbarsha as Radha (special appearance)

## Production
### Development

The story was narrated to Prithviraj Sukumaran by screenwriter Deepu Pradeep. Initially, Prithviraj was supposed to portray the role of Vinu. Initially, another director was supposed to direct the film before being replaced by Vipin Das. Announcement of the film came on January 1 , 2023 by Prithviraj Sukumaran revealing that this was a story that he heard it over a year ago. Collaborating with Basil Joseph, the film would be directed by Vipin Das after the success of Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, and is written by Deepu Pradeep associating with E4 Entertainment. The film will feature Ankit Menon as the music director, Neeraj Revi as the cinematographer and John Kutty as editor. In March 2023, in an interview Baiju Santosh said that Prithviraj Sukumaran will be playing an antagonistic character in the film.

### Casting

The film marks the first collaboration of Prithviraj Sukumaran and Basil Joseph. Comedian Yogi Babu, was cast to play a role making his Malayalam cinema debut with the film. He joined the cast on April 9, 2023. Female leads were Nikhila Vimal and Anaswara Rajan; both of them joining the set on April 15, 2023. Billed as a fun entertainer revolving around the events surrounding a wedding, the film would also have Jagadish, Rekha, Siju Sunny, Irshad, Kunhikrishnan and Manoj KU in other roles.

### Filming

Principal photography began on 12 May 2023 with a puja and switch on ceremony taking place at the Guruvayoor Temple. A set replicating the Guruvayur Temple was constructed at Karattupallikkara in Perumbavoor municipality. The second schedule of filming underwent in Dubai and concluded in early July. Prithviraj was supposed to join the filming during the third schedule, but it was delayed due to an injury sustained on the sets of Vilayath Buddha. He eventually joined the film in the last week of November in Guruvayur. The fourth schedule was concluded in Kochi by early January 2024. The entire filming was wrapped up on 4 April 2024.

## Music

The music and background score was composed by Ankit Menon and Dabzee. The audio rights were acquired by Saregama. The first single "K For Krishna" was released on 5 May 2024. The second single "K For Kalyanam" was released on 14 May 2024. The third single "K for Krishna 1.5x Retreat" was released on 21 May 2024 after the film's release. The fourth single "K For Kabaradakkam" was released on 25 May 2024 after the film's release. The last single "K For Kurukku" was released on 28 May 2024. The entire soundtrack album was released on 8 June 2024. The song "Azhagiya Laila" sung by Mano from the film Ullathai Allitha (1996) and a small portion of "Kannaam Thumpee" sung by K. S. Chithra from the film Kakkothikkavile Appooppan Thaadikal (1988) was reused in the film.

## Release
### Theatrical

The film was released in theatres on 16 May 2024.

### Home media

The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film were bought by Disney+ Hotstar and started streaming from 27 June 2024, and the satellite rights by Asianet.

## Reception
### Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 60% of 5 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5/10.
Arjun Menon of Rediff.com rated 3.5/5 stars and observed, "Guruvayoorambala Nadayil is a no-holds-barred, silly comedy that will keep you glued to the screen even when the going gets tough towards the end but the smile on your face will not leave."

### Box office

The film grossed over ₹50 crore at the box office within a week of its release. It concluded its run with worldwide gross estimated to be ₹90.25 crore.