Kaduva

Kaduva was officially announced on 16 October 2019 on Prithviraj Sukumaran's birthday, to be directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Jinu V. Abraham, along with a poster featuring Prithviraj captioned "inspired from a true story".[3] Jointly produced by Prithviraj's Prithviraj Productions and Listin Stephen's Magic Frames.[4] Abraham said, although the film is inspired by a true story, it constitutes only five percent of the film and rest is fictional, which is set in 1990s. He first narrated the screenplay to Prithviraj, who suggested Shaji Kailas' name as director and brought him on board. The film was expected to begin production in March 2020 as soon as Prithviraj completes Aadujeevitham.[5]

Prithviraj plays the character of Kaduvakunnel Kuryachan, a young planter from a Christian family in Pala. Prithviraj said, though he received the screenplay only in early 2019 he had heard about the character even before that. Prithviraj was filming for Driving Licence when he called Shaji Kailas for directing the film. It was after Shaji Kailas agreed to do the film Prithviraj and Listin decided to produce it.[6] Shooting which was scheduled to begin somewhere in mid-2020 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India.[7] In June that year, an untitled film to be directed by Mathews Thomas, produced by Tomichan Mulakuppadam, and starring Suresh Gopi was announced, which bears the same character name Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan.[8] This prompted Abraham to file a case against them at District Court, Ernakulam alleging plagiarism. The court stayed its production and promotional activities as Abraham's screenplay was registered under copyright law.[9] Beside character name, promotional materials of SG250 (working title) also bears similarity to what is depicted in Kaduva's poster, said Abraham. The initial title he found for Kaduva was Kaduvakunnel Kuruvachan and the screenplay was also registered under that title, it was changed after producer Stephen asked him to choose a shorter title. Abraham said Mathews had worked under him as an assistant director and had known him since 2011, with whom he had discussed stories, including Kaduva.[10]

In October 2020, upholding the order of District Court, the High Court of Kerala gave clearance to Kaduva to proceed with production while restricting SG250 from making a film unless they create a new character and make major changes in the screenplay.[11] A plea challenging the stay order of District Court was filed by the makers of SG250 (officially titled Ottakkomban), but it was dismissed by the Supreme Court of India in April 2022.[12]

A petitioner, Kuruvinakunnel expressed doubt as whether Kaduva and SG250 are based on his life. Clarifying that,Shaji Kailas said it was Abraham who came to him with the screenplay which he originally wrote for another director, and Kaduva is not based on Kuruvinakunnel's life and Abraham's Kuruvachan is an imaginary character who also happens to be a planter.[13][14] The District Court s quashed the petition and questioned the intentions of the petitioner in filing a case just before the release of the movie.

Prithviraj said that they shortlisted several names for the character of Joseph Chandy, and at one time considered Biju Menon for the role, but since both Prithviraj and Menon has done similar roles in Ayyappanum Koshiyum they ruled out Menon and ultimately zeroed in Vivek Oberoi as per majority opinion. There were rumours that Mohanlal was part of the cast, appearing in a cameo role. Addressing it, Shaji Kailas clarified that they indeed had planned to cast Mohanlal in a cameo role, but it did not work out.[6]

Principal photography began on 17 April 2021.[15] However, by the end of that month, filming was suspended after a surge in COVID-19 cases in Kerala.[16] After completing Alone, Shaji Kailas began the second schedule of Kaduva on 24 October, which was expected to last for 70 days. Prithviraj joined in the second schedule.[17][18] Oberoi joined the set in November.[19] Abinandhan Ramanujam was the cinematographer. Filming was completed in March 2022.[20]

The film was mainly shot at locations in Pala and Erattupetta in Kottayam district and Vandiperiyar in Idukki district. Since the film is set in 1990s, they wanted to recreate old District Court, Kottayam, it was created as set in a 4-5 acre land at Ernakulam.[21] While filming in Mundakkayam, there was a 50-person limit pertaining to COVID-19 restrictions set by the government. At Mundakkayam, the crew suffered flood and landslide, the set constructed was damaged. Filming went past three waves of COVID-19 in India. Prithviraj and Shaji Kailas was tested COVID-19 positive. Five fight sequences and three songs were filmed for the film. Kalabhavan Shajohn was tested COVID-19 positive while filming in Kochi. The film took two years to complete, overcoming COVID-19 pandemic, flood, and landslide.[6]

Kaduva was released on 7 July 2022. In addition, the film will be released in dubbed versions of Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, and Telugu languages.[23] It was initially scheduled for a theatrical release on 30 June 2022. The team promoted the film at an event in Bangalore and Chennai.[24]

The digital streaming rights of the film are acquired by Amazon Prime Video and Hindi version by Disney+ Hotstar.[25] The film was digitally streamed on Amazon Prime Video from 4 August 2022[26]The satellite rights of the film were sold to Surya TV.[27]

On its opening day, the film had grossed around ₹7 crore.[28] On its third day, the film has earned around ₹15 crore at the Kerala box office.[29] On the seventh day of its release, the film has grossed around ₹30.20 crore and became one of hit ventures in Mollywood after Bheeshma Parvam, Hridayam and Jana Gana Mana.[30] The film grossed over ₹50 crore (equivalent to ₹53 crore or US$6.6 million in 2023) and became one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of the year.[1]

Kaduva received mixed reviews from critics.

Sajin Shrijith of The New Indian Express rated 3.5 out of 5 and stated "We need to see the bad guys do something that would provoke our ire so that when, finally, the hero returns for payback, we take delight in every punch that lands. Thankfully, Kaduva follows this philosophy to a T, and I had quite a blast."[31]

Arjun Menon of Pinkvilla rated the film to be 3.5 out of 5 stars stating that "However, the film is a made-for-theatre watch, aided by a splendidly enjoyable background score from Jakes Bejoy and the thunderous frames that elevate the commonplace plot to new heights of first-rate commercial filmmaking that is meant to be experienced with a bunch of strangers in a dark room. Yes, Kaduva might have just saved Malayalam cinema for all we know or set off a new focus on narrating larger-than-life tales with the grounded, economy of new-age storytelling.[32]

Cris of The News Minute gave the film 3.5 out of 5 stars and stated that "The film starts and ends in the middle of nowhere, extracting a slice of Kuriachan's life. You do get to taste a bit of nostalgia in seeing land phones, Doordarshan's intro theme and a single television reporter in front of the CM. But the rest of the film is just a nicely edited long and unexciting script."[33] Anna Mathews of The Times of India rated the film 3 out of 5 and wrote "If you are in the mood for a Prithviraj mass thriller, you might enjoy the movie, but don't expect to be wow-ed."[34]

India Today gave 2.5 out of 5 stars and wrote "Kaduva is entertaining despite its predictability. But, a little bit of inventiveness could have elevated Kaduva more."[35] Jayadeep Jayesh of Deccan Herald gave 2.5 out of 5 and stated "'Kaduva' can be appreciated for representing a style of filmmaking that Malayalam cinema has long forgotten. There are many nostalgia-inducing moments and Prithviraj's charisma is captivating. Apart from these aspects, the film is just average.[36]

Vishal Menon of Film Companion after reviewing the film wrote "Yet you have to give it to Jakes Bejoy's background score and Abhinandan Ramanujam's camera for working overtime to re-interpret what could have been a 30-year-old film. Not only do they get exactly what the director's trying to make, but they also give it their own individual tributes to make something old feel new. The result is a balls-out unpretentious action movie that owns every second of its pitch as an ultimate male revenge fantasy."[37]

Anna M. M. Vetticad of Firstpost rated the film to be 1.75 out of 5 stating that "There is a lot of physical movement in Kaduva – fists and legs swing across the screen, vehicles speed and overturn, bodies spin in mid-air. Shaji Kailas' storytelling though remains frozen in time, back in the 1990s when he first shot into the limelight, as unmoving as the mundu tucked around Kuriyaachan's waist."[38] Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express after reviewing the film wrote "And this entire movie, which is a celebration of vanity, is so excruciatingly dull. One can't help but wonder, who still finds slow-motion walks and frequent twirls of moustache a product of big-screen entertainment?"[39]

S. R. Praveen of The Hindu stated that "Shaji does manage to deliver that, dipped in more than an ounce of predictability, but for those looking for some novelty, Kaduva might not be it. This is despite it being a notch better than all of the work that Shaji has done post-2000."[40]