Aavesham (transl. Excitement) is a 2024 Indian Malayalam-language action-comedy film directed by Jithu Madhavan and produced by Nazriya Nazim and Anwar Rasheed under Fahadh Faasil and Friends and Anwar Rasheed Entertainments. It stars Fahadh Faasil in the lead part, alongside Hipzster, Mithun Jai Shankar, Roshan Shanavas and Sajin Gopu, while Midhutty and Mansoor Ali Khan appear in supporting roles. The music was written by Sushin Shyam, while the cinematography and editing were handled by Sameer Thahir and Vivek Harshan.
Aavesham was released on 11 April 2024 to critical acclaim from reviewers with praise for its direction, performances (especially Fahadh Faasil and Sajin Gopu), action sequences, cinematography, music and technical aspects. The film became a blockbuster, earning over ₹156 crores against a budget of ₹30 crores. It is currently the fourth highest grossing Malayalam film of all time, third highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2024, fifth highest-grossing South Indian film of 2024 as well as one of the highest grossing Indian films of 2024.
| Aavesham | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Jithu Madhavan |
| Written by | Jithu Madhavan |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Sameer Thahir |
| Edited by | Vivek Harshan |
| Music by | Sushin Shyam |
|
Production
companies |
|
| Distributed by | A & A Release |
|
Release date
|
|
|
Running time
|
161 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Budget | ₹30 crore |
| Box office | est.₹154.60 crores |
Plot
Aju, Bibi and Shanthan arrive in Bangalore, Karnataka from Kerala to pursue a degree in aeronautical engineering at Vaana Veekshan College, picking the BK Hostel (run by the college clerk BK) for its perceived freedom compared to their college accommodation. Initially, they enjoy their time there until a confrontation with Kutty, an older student, escalates, bruising his ego. In retaliation, Kutty and his gang roughly take the trio to his place and brutally thrash them, only to offer friendship afterward. Feeling humiliated, Aju seeks revenge and leads his friends to multiple bars in search of gangsters, eventually befriending Ranga, a famous, eccentric and kind-hearted Malayali-Kannadiga gangster who dresses in all-white.
One day after the trio gets drunk, Ranga takes them in their jeep to drop them off at their hostel, but the hostel warden warns them not to come late as there are rules in the hostel. So Ranga takes them to his old house to accomodate them as a note of kindness.
Disillusioned by Ranga’s lack of action, they learn his gang merely praises him while engaging in minor violence. When Bibi confronts Ranga about the incident with Kutty, Ranga unleashes his fury during the college Holi party, beating up Kutty and his gang in front of everyone. They face expulsion after being unable to pass tests and because of their association with Ranga, but are given a second chance with assurances of passing all future exams.
After their initial victory against Kutty, their association with Ranga starts to consume their lives, affecting their studies. They are unable to focus on their studies as Ranga keeps engaging them in his high-octane lifestyle of chases, fights and parties. After a night of one such revelry, the three of them find a grim truth in the house related to Ranga’s past.
After this finding, the trio meets Ranga and tries to express their desire to sever ties with him, by trying to reveal that they only befriended him for revenge but hold back when they see Ranga threaten to kill two of his gang members trying to leave the gang.
The trio’s troubles escalate when they are kidnapped by Reddy, Ranga’s old boss. Reddy accuses Ranga of stealing his brand and seeks their help to eliminate him by asking them to give him (Reddy) a call whenever they next meet Ranga. Fleeing from Reddy’s threats they go back to their house.
Unable to handle staying in the house, the trio chooses to switch off their phones and leave for a different hostel in Tumkur. They manage to study there, meanwhile Ranga keeps desperately searching for the boys. The boys finally decide to face Ranga and make up a plan to call Reddy when he is alone. They finally pick up Ranga’s call and ask him to meet face-to-face in his accomodation he set up for them, in order to sever all ties with him and his gang. The boys continue to open up to Ranga as to the fact that they only befriended him to keep away Kuttan and his gang, and proceeded to tell him just how negatively he had impacted their life after that chance encounter.
A now-agitated Ranga calls his gang to the house. The anxious boys, now afraid for their life, try concocting a plan on the spot, and finally, they call Reddy and his gang (as he had offered them a means to betray Ranga after kidnapping them earlier), in order to get rid of Ranga’s presence in their life. Reddy and his goons arrive before Ranga’s gang, and Reddy thanks the boys for their timely tip-off of Ranga’s whereabouts and vows that he’ll deal with the rest. Ranga thus sees that the boys had double-crossed him.
Distraught at their betrayal, Ranga broke his vow of not getting personally involved in fights, and faces Reddy’s gang alone in hand-to-hand fighting, and emerges victorious. Further incensed by their betrayal, he chases them across the house (with his now-arrived goons blocking the exits and windows of the house), and admits that he kept the boys with him as no one had gotten close to him in his life unless they needed something from him. Realizing their mistake, they apologize to Ranga. Ranga begrudgingly lets them go (after going through an emotional turmoil fuelled further by a call from Bibi’s mother where she, in a concerning manner, asks about Ranga and Bibi’s wellbeing), and warns them to not fail in a single test.
Aju and Bibi are unable to clear their tests by failing in one subject, while Shanthan passes them. They meet Ranga, now clad in all-black attire as new look, outside the college. Ranga humorously punishes Aju and Bibi for their failure to pass all the exams.
Cast
- Fahadh Faasil as Ranjith “Ranga” Gangadharan
- Mithun Jai Shankar as Bibin “Bibi” Prakash
- Hipzster as Ajas “Aju”
- Roshan Shahnavaz as Shanthakumaran “Shanthan”
- Sajin Gopu as Ambaan
- Midhutty as Kutty “Kuttyettan”
- Mansoor Ali Kan as Reddy
- Neeraja Rajendran as Bibi’s mother
- Pramod Veliyanad as Ranga’s cousin
- Sreejith Nair as Bala Krishnan
- Krishna Kumar as Nanjappa
- Freestyle Krishna as Bruce-lee
- Himanshu as Jacky
- Thankam Mohan as Ranga’s mother
- Pooja Mohanraj as Beauty
- Preeti Bhardwaj as Sweety
- Ashish Vidyarthi as Executive Director of Engineering College (cameo appearance)
Production Development
In March 2023, Jithu Madhavan announced his second film featuring Fahadh Faasil, who also co-produced the film through his production company Fahadh Faasil and Friends with Anwar Rasheed Entertainments.film’s title Aavesham was released in May 2023. Madhavan wrote the script during early-December 2022 and completed within February 2023 during the time when his debut film Romancham (2022) was delayed from October 2022 to February 2023.Though it was claimed that the film is a spin-off of Romancham, Madhavan later clarified that Aavesham is a standalone film and has no connections with Romancham. The technical team consisted of Sushin Shyam, Sameer Thahir, Vivek Harshan and Ashwini Kale as music composer, cinematographer, editor and production designer respectively.
Casting
Fahadh plays the part of Ranga, a Bangalore-based gangster;[6] He was featured in a thick handlebar moustache and an all-white outfit in a leaked picture from the film’s production in May 2023. Fahadh attributed that he had not explored such characters before, which led to him agreeing to the story, adding that “Jithu [Madhavan] gave me a very clear idea of who Ranga would be. However, we completed the look and attire after we started filming for the movie.” Compared to his previous films, Fahadh’s character would be loud in the film and would speak in a mixture of Kannada and Malayalam, resembling how thieves from the city would speak. Sajin Gopu, who previously acted in Romancham was assigned an important part in the film, with Mansoor Ali Khan and Ashish Vidyarthi in supporting roles.[9] The film also featured amateurs including Pranav Raj – Hipzster, Mithun Jai Shankar, Roshan Shanavas and Midhutty.
Filming Principal photography began in Bangalore on the same date as the announcement. The film was shot extensively in Bangalore and its outskirts and production finished in November 2023.
Filming
Hamsa served as the film’s wardrobe designer. Throughout the film, Fahad’s character Ranga appears in an all-white attire wearing gold chains, except for the climactic parts where Fahadh would appear in an all-black attire.Ranga’s younger version sports a trimmed deep fade hairstyle and wears a windbreaker, which resembles Dali Benssalah’s look from the music video of the French musical duo The Blaze’s song “Territory” (2017) and also British boxer Naseem Hamed.
Music
Main article: Aavesham (soundtrack)
The film’s music was composed by Sushin Shyam with lyrics written by Vinayak Sasikumar and featured nine songs performed by independent artists. The music was released by Think Music on 19 April 2024 after being preceded by four singles: “Jaada”, “Galatta”, “Illuminati” and “Mathapithakkale”.
