Years later) is a 2024 Indian Malayalam-language period comedy drama film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan.
The film stars Pranav Mohanlal and Dhyan Sreenivasan in the lead roles, alongside Nivin Pauly, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Aju Varghese, Neeta Pillai, Basil Joseph and Neeraj Madhav in supporting roles.
The film was released worldwide in theatres on 11 April 2024 to mixed reviews from critics and audiences alike.
In the early 1970s, Venu is a high schooler who devotes all of his time to helping out in traveling plays as they stop in his hometown.
One night, the producer of a play asks him to bring an instrumentalist, Murali, from the house of the local landlord.
Venu offers to help and discovers that the book has already been lent to a first-year student named Annie.
They rent out a room in Kodambakkam where Murali lands a job as a violinist under music director Indra Dhanush.
Venu chides him for coming there in an inebriated state, and about their respective statuses as promising director, and minor background violinist.
One day, 50 years after the Madras incident, he meets Murali again by chance, who tells him to return to the film industry.
At Indra Dhanush's funeral (who is still remembered mainly for Murali's song), they discover the young director Pradeep.
Venu hires a taxi to a location in Tamil Nadu where they meet Senthil, an old friend from their lodge in Madras.
On 13 July 2023, Vineeth Sreenivasan announced his collaboration once again with producer Visakh Subramaniam of Merryland Cinemas, following the success of Hridayam (2022), for their second project together, titled Varshangalkku Shesham.
[6] In an interview, talking about his influences, Vineeth recalled how he listened to his father Sreenivasan's stories about his early life in Madras and also the experiences of his contemporaries in the film industry.
During his school days, Vineeth avidly read popular Malayalam film magazines, such as Nana, Vellinakshatram, and Chithrabhumi, which featured articles and interviews with those working in cinema.
He also recalled how, during stage shows, actors Mukesh and Innocent would entertain the team with anecdotes from their lives in Madras and their experiences in the cinema world.
[10] During the film's announcement, the initial cast included Pranav Mohanlal, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Aju Varghese, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Basil Joseph, Vineeth, Neeraj Madhav, Neeta Pillai, Sai Aadya Bhumi, Arjun Lal, Nikhil Nair, Shaan Rahman, and Nivin Pauly.
[9] Vineeth based Pranav's character after actor Murali, whom he observed during the filming of Champakulam Thachan (1992).
He recalls seeing Murali walking towards their hotel from a distance, dressed in a jubba and mundu, with a sling bag on his shoulder, while singing a poem.
[16] Shaan, who previously collaborated with Vineeth as a music director in his earlier projects, made his acting debut with Varshangalkku Shesham.
[18][19] Vineeth reminisced about how several actors in the film juggled shooting dates with multiple filmmakers, unlike in Hridayam, where most of them were early in their careers.
[9] Vineeth said that director Priyadarshan had provided some important details in the design of Swami's Lodge, one of the major backdrops of the film, when he narrated the screenplay to him.
[31][32] Varshangalkku Shesham marks the debut feature film composition work of Amrit Ramnath, son of singer-composer Bombay Jayashri.
[35] Varshangalkku Shesham was theatrically released worldwide on 11 April 2024 during the Ramadan and Vishu weekend, along with Aavesham and Jai Ganesh.
[3] Divya Nair of Rediff.com rated 3/5 stars and stated "Vineeth Sreenivasan deserves applause for striving to blend the past with the present and revoking your memories.
"[41] Writing for The Times of India, Anna Mathews praised the performances of Nivin Pauly and Basil Joseph.
[44] Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express, however, criticised the film's writing and Pranav Mohanlal's acting, yet commended Nivin Pauly's performance.