Nivin Pauly’s Padavettu will kick off festive releases in September, to be first Onam release since pandemic

Nivin Pauly’s socio-political drama Padavettu finally gets a release date. The movie, which went on floors in 2019 and had to face multiple delays, is set to hit theatres on September this year.

Padavettu, which also has Manju Warrier and Aditi Balan as part of the cast, is about the struggle of the oppressed in the society and their fight to claim their rightful place. Nivin plays a powerful character of a common man who leads a revolution of sorts in the movie, which is produced by Sunny Wayne.

The movie marks Aditi’s second Malayalam venture after the investigative thriller Cold Case, which had Prithviraj Sukumaran in the lead. The latter was a direct-to-OTT release. In an earlier interview with OTTplay, the actress said that the challenge for her in Padavettu was that even though she knew Malayalam, she had to work on the slang of the language for her character in the film, which was shot extensively in Wayanad.

Padavettu’s director Liju Krishna was arrested during the last schedule of the movie after allegations of rape. The team, however, completed the shoot without him. The movie, which was initially set for a March 2022 release, was postponed due to the delay in shoot because of the pandemic restrictions and Omicron threat earlier this year.

The film is currently schedule for an Onam release on September 2. This will also mark the first Onam release in Malayalam since the pandemic as theatres in Kerala had been closed the previous two years due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Nivin had to put on weight to play his character in the film, which could be his third theatrical release this year after Rajeev Ravi’s Thuramukham and Abrid Shine’s Mahaveeryar. Thuramukham, which is set in the 1940s and 50s, had Nivin playing the character of a Mattanchery-based labourer. The film, which is based on true events, again tells the story of a section of the society rising up and revolting to abolish the malpractice of chappa system that existed in the early 90s. The movie is set to hit theatres on June 3.

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