Among the sea of Malayalam movies that will release this year (most of the 2020 movies being premiered in 2021, thanks to the nation-wide lockdown last year), there is a Nivin Pauly starring historical drama coming out in May, called Thuramukham. The title of the movie, Thuramukham, means The Harbour, and as the name suggests, the film will be set in a harbour town, during the 1940s and 50s. The movie completed its principal photography back in January 2020, but the release date got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic.
As mentioned earlier, Thuramukham will be set in a harbour town – the harbour town of Mattanchery, in the background of the worker’s struggle against the infamous “Chappa” system of labour allocation. Back in the 40s and 50s, “Chappa” or metal tokens were thrown into multiple waiting crowds of workers, who had to fight amongst themselves to get said token. These tokens acted as tickets, and the workers who acquired them were given work for the day, either at the harbour or the godowns. This was a regular system, which continued daily.
Nothing else regarding the movie has been announced, but we will still get to have a look at a harbour town in Kerala, back in the 40s, where seafare was the main occupation of choice among workers/ ordinary people. If done right, this piece of specific contemporary history alone will be worth watching the movie, as it shows the rich culture of a one small region in South India. We will need to wait for the trailer to have a look at the various depictions.
With a stellar cast featuring Nivin Pauly, Poornima Indrajith, Indrajith Sukumaran, Arjun Ashokan, Nimisha Sajayan, Sudev Nair, Manikandan R. Achari, Darshana Rajendran, Joju George and Senthil Krishna, we are expecting some brilliant acting once the movie drops. Gopan Chidambaran has written the script for the film while Rajeev Ravi has directed the movie.
Nivin Pauly’s Thuramukham is premiering in theaters on May 13th 2021.