Angamaly Diaries
Angamaly Diaries is a 2017 Indian Malayalam-language crime drama film directed by Lijo Jose Pellissery and written by Chemban Vinod Jose. The film features 86 debutant actors, with Antony Varghese, Anna Rajan, Kichu Tellus, Ullas Jose Chemban, Vineeth Vishwam, Bitto Davis, Tito Wilson, Sarath Kumar, and Sinoj Varghese playing the main roles. The film is Vijay Babu's first sole production under Friday Film House. The film released on 3 March 2017 to critical acclaim and emerged as a major commercial success. The story follows Vincent Pepe (Antony Varghese) who wants to be a powerful leader of  a righteous gang that will rule the town of Angamaly, like his seniors. The film features an uncut 11-minute long take in the climax featuring around 1000 artists. It was included in The Hindu's top 25 Malayalam films of the decade. The film was remade in Telugu as "Falaknuma Das" (2019). Plot. Vincent Pepe (Antony Varghese) is from Angamaly. He lives with his mother (Jolly Chirayath) and his sister Mercy (Athira Patel), while his father went to an undeveloped area in Karnataka to run a cotton business. Although he was brought up to be a devout Catholic and  also became an altar server in the local church, and his real role models were the local football team, the New Stars Team, and their captain Babuji (Anson Antony), who was also a good/bad thug, feared by most in Angamaly. Inspired by them, Pepe decides to make his own gang and to be like Babuji and his New Stars Team. Pepe eventually selects the people for his gang, most of them being his friends. He eventually falls in love with Seema (Amrutha Anna Reji) in his childhood, like the rest of his gang. However, Pepe's friend and gang  member Lino leaves the gang as his dad had to move to Chandigarh. The gang adopts a decent name, 'Palliyangadi Team', and they also make their first fight, in college, which ends in a disaster for them and the gang getting admitted in the hospital. Seema feels sorry for him, and the two fall in love. However, news comes that Ravi (Appani Sarath) and Rajan (Tito Wilson) have murdered Babuji, and they get arrested, after the Palliyangadi Team makes a fight. Seema also marries someone else and settles in Singapore, so Pepe falls in love with Sakhi (Binny Rinky Benjamin ) who is a nursing student in Angamaly, and her family is settled in Germany. She also happens to be Lily's (Anna Rajan) student. Pepe is hoping to marry Sakhi and to settle in Germany as well. Varkey (Kichu Tellus), a Palliyangadi Team member, falls in love with Alice (Sruthi Jayan), a local police constable at Angamaly. Pepe, along with owning a cable business, presents the idea of starting a pork business to the gang, to which they accept. They suggest help from Ravi and Rajan, now known as 'Appani Ravi' and 'U-Clamp Rajan', who own a pork farm  and shop, and who also trade marijuana throughout Angamaly and participating in other crimes. Pepe reluctantly agrees to this, and they form a business. The story takes a turn when Pepe accidentally kills someone. There are a lot of fights because of this. The rest of the story revolves around this incident and how Pepe and his friends together get out of this issue. Production. The film introduces 86 new actors and the audition was held at different parts of Kerala, especially at Kochi. Actor Chemban Vinod Jose wrote the screenplay. The filming started on 11 October 2016 in Kochi . "Angamaly Diaries" is Vijay Babu's first sole production after the spat with his business partner Sandra Thomas. Soundtrack. The film's music was composed by Prashant Pillai, with lyrics by P. S. Rafeeque and Preeti Pillai. The full movie soundtrack was released on 23 February 2017 and consists of 9 songs: six original and three alternate versions. Release. The film was released on 3 March 2017. Box office. The film received positive reviews from the critics and became commercial success. The film collected over ₹20 crore in its final run in theatres. Critical Reception. Since its release, "Angamaly  Diaries" has met with critical acclaim. It was lauded for its realistic making, cinematography, casting and performance of actors. The Hollywood Reporter's Deborah Young termed the film as a "rambunctious breakout" and praised the climax describing it as "dazzling, can’t-look-away finale, shot in a single 12-minute take that throws in everything plus the kitchen sink and brings the story to a shrill conclusion". Anjana George of The Times of India gave the film 4 stars out of 5 and praised the film as "Showcasing a mélange of beautiful visuals, thumping music and natural performances, Angamaly Diaries  is one of the more fresh and terrific attempts made by a filmmaker of late in Mollywood Film." She added, "Chemban has weaved in the dialect, food, music and culture of the people in Angamaly to the plot, paying careful attention to every intricate detail, while making it an engaging movie." Anna MM Vetticad of Firstpost also gave it 4 stars out of 5 and called it as a "delightful, unexpectedly hilarious take on the squalid underbelly of Kerala’s Angamaly town.". She added, "If ever there was an example of the committed cinephile’s dictum “it is not the  story but the treatment that makes a film”, you have it here. Because if you think about it, Angamaly Diaries – funny and insightful in equal measure – does not have a story in the conventional sense, yet that, among so many other reasons, is what makes it brilliant." Critic Veeyen termed the film as "Excellent" and stated that "the Angamaly that filmmaker Lijo Jose Pellissery and writer Vinod Jose scribble their diary notes on is a dusty, deafening town that smells of pork and sloshed human blood. The ceaseless squabbles for honour, money and might render it a land with almost  dystopian proportions, where a terrifyingly realistic tale of subsistence unfurls." Baradwaj Rangan of Film Companion South wrote "Like last year’s Kannada blockbuster Kirik Party, Angamaly Diaries is proof that these relatively under-the-radar upstart films are making far better use of mainstream tropes – fights, songs, comedy – than your average mega-budget big-star vehicle...like Premam, Angamaly Diaries places a certain kind of small-town, short-fused masculinity under a microscope. Men are defined by their actions – and I’m not just talking about the action sequences." The film also received high praises from the film fraternity. Actor  Mohanlal wrote: "Happened to watch Angamaly Diaries and I'm impressed by the way the movie is made. Brilliant acting by every one and Kudos to the whole team and to Chemban Vinod Jose and Lijo Jose Pellissery". Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran lauded it as a "stunning piece of film making" and praised its "original writing". Actor Nivin Pauly applauded the casting, performances, story calling them "so refreshing and real". Director Karthik Subbaraj called the film as "Super Fantastic" and lauded it, saying "Writing, Performances & Filmmaking Crafts at its best". Director Anurag Kashyap called it as "an extraordinary film" and tagged  Angamaly Diaries as his film of the year so far. Antony Varghese won the Youth Icon Award at Asianet Film Awards.