Vivekanandan Viralanu

Vivekanandan Viralanu is a 2024 Indian Malayalam language comedy drama film, directed by Kamal, starring Shine Tom Chacko, Swasika Vijay, Grace Antony, Mareena and Johny Antony in lead roles.^[2][3][4] The principal photography of the film started on 15 June 2023.^[5]

Vivekanandan Viralanu
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kamal
Written by	Kamal
Produced by	Nediyath Naseeb P.S.Shelliraj Kamaludheen Saleem (Co-producer) Suresh Sak (Co-producer)
Starring	Shine Tom Chacko Swasika Vijay Grace Antony Mareena
Cinematography	Prakash Velayudhan
Edited by	Ranjan Abraham
Music by	Bijibal
Production company	Nediyath Productions
Distributed by	Magic Frames
Release date	19 January 2024 (2024-01-19)[1]
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

The film, touted as the 100th film of actor Shine Tom Chacko is also considered as the comeback film of director Kamal, after a gap of five years.^[6]

The film was wrapped up on 25 July 2023^[7] and released on 19 January 2024.^[8][9][1]

Premise

Vivekanandan is a government employee with violent sexual urges and faces repercussions from his victims almost all the time. Fed up of his atrocities, his victims, who also include his wife and live-in partner, decide to teach him a lesson in consent. Interestingly, their revenge ends up going viral online and everyone gets to know about his deviant and predatory behavior.^[10]

Cast

• Shine Tom Chacko as Vivekanandan S.P
• Swasika as Sithara
• Grace Antony as Diana
• Mareena as Aisha (Aishu)
• Manju Pillai as Ammini
• Johny Antony as Padmanabhan/Pappettan
• Maala Parvathi as Savithri Teacher
• Sminu Sijo as CPO Mercy Mathew
• Sarath Sabha as Joppan
• Vineeth Thattil David as CI Hameed
• Sidhartha Siva as Dr. Mahalingeshwaran
• Pramod Velliyanad
• Neena Kurup
• Niyas Backar as CPO Jayan
• Sinoj Varghese as Paapi
• Josekutty as Vinod
• Remya Suresh as Lilly
• Ashitha Ashokan
• Majeed as Chief Minister
• Unni Raja as Rohith Eeshwar
• Riyas Narmakala as MLA Joseph John
• Ansha Mohan as Divya
• Radha Gomathi
• M. A. Nishad as Himself

Production

Veteran director Kamal, who also wrote the film, stated that, "In this film, we are addressing a crucial issue that women face in this era which is not often discussed", and he signed his disciple Shine Tom Chacko for the lead role. He said that he needed an actor without the burden of a huge star image.^[3] 5 actresses, Swasika Vijay, Grace Antony, Mareena, Maala Parvathi and Sminu Sijo were signed to play the women comes in the life of Vivekanandan (Shine Tom Chacko).^[8][11] Producer Listin Stephen acquired the distribution rights of the film. The film is produced by Nediyath Naseeb and P.S.Shelliraj with Kamaludheen Saleem and Suresh Sak as co-producers.^[12] Singer Sithara's song "Oru Chillupaathram" had the first musical release.^[13][14] The film was shot at the locations of Thodupuzha and Ernakulam.^[3]

Reception

Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express wrote " The film serves as a misguided pamphlet written by men attempting to define feminism, women empowerment, rape, sexual perversion and social media without grasping the basics."^[15] While S.R.Praveen of The Hindu wrote " A loud, overdramatic take on an issue that the film fails to grasp"^[16]