Classmates (2006 film)

Classmates is a 2006 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lal Jose and written by James Albert. The film features an ensemble cast including Prithviraj Sukumaran, Narain, Jayasurya, Indrajith Sukumaran, Radhika and Kavya Madhavan. The story revolves around a college graduate class of 1991. In 2006, working in different corners of the world, the friends get together for a class reunion to revive the joy and laughter of their college days. On the night of the reunion, one of the students is almost murdered and goes into a coma.

Classmates was produced by Prakash Damodaran and P. K. Muralidharan through their company Arya Films, and is the company's debut production. The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Alex Paul. Classmates ' cinematography was handled by Rajeev Ravi and editing was done by Ranjan Abraham. Principal photography primarily took place in and around C. M. S. College, Kottayam and Ooty and was completed in a span of 55 days, during the months of April and May.

The film was released on 25 August 2006 during Onam holiday period. The film became a major box office success, with a theatrical run of 150 days at Abhilash Complex, Kottayam. It became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2006. The film won two Kerala State Film Awards, five Kerala Film Critics Association Awards and three Asianet Film Awards. It was later remade into Tamil as Ninaithale Inikkum and in Telugu and Marathi as Classmates (2007) and Classmates (2015), respectively.

Classmates has since become one of the most acclaimed films of its decade, particularly for its soundtrack. It is considered by many critics as one of the best campus films in Malayalam cinema. The film developed a cult following in the years after its release and is frequently referenced in popular Keralite culture. With the release of film, the concept of alumni meet started trending in Kerala, and schools and colleges started organising such get togethers to help the ex-students keep in touch with each other. The film is now regarded as a classic in Malayalam cinema.

Plot
1991: The film centers on a group of classmates who were together in their final year of college. Murali is a singer, Suku is a firebrand student union leader and Pious is a rich and spoiled brat and is Suku's best friend. Suku's rival Satheeshan leads the opposite faction of student politics with his sidekick Valu Vasu. Thara Kurup is the daughter of an MLA and also an award winning classical dancer.

It was Murali's dream to have a 15 year reunion, but he mysteriously dies while still in college. His parents, Iyer and Lakshmi, both teachers at the college, decide to fulfill their deceased son's dream and organize the reunion. Suku is now a successful diamond dealer based in Mumbai, Satheesan is an MLA, while Vasu is his PA. Pious is settled in the Middle East and Thara runs a dancing school.

2006: All the old classmates including another friend called Raziya arrive for the reunion and are reliving their old memories. Unexpectedly, Suku attempts suicide, although the friends suspects that this is not the case. Pious then narrates Suku's back story to Iyer while at the hospital.

During college, when Satheeshan finds out that Suku and Thara are in love, he plans to separate them and makes her stand against Suku in a college election. On election day, Satheeshan steals a letter that Thara wrote for Suku keeps it inside the ballet box. Pious sees this and he and Suku plan to retrieve the letter in the night but are unable to do so. The same night, Raziya and Murali, who are in love with each other decide to meet in the generator room to elope. Raziya waits for Murali in the generator room. The next day, Thara's letter gets exposed and Satheeshan tells everyone including Thara that Suku misused her letter. A vicious fight then breaks out between Suku and Satheeshan. During this they are told that Murali has been found dead by Raziya in the generator room. Raziya then has a nervous breakdown.

After Murali's funeral, Suku decides to discontinue his studies. He goes to Mumbai and begins his diamond business. His business associate, Shantharam, helps Suku with his family as well as marries him to his daughter Ratna. After Shantharam's death, Suku and Ratna divorce and he then takes over the business.

In the present, Thara reveals that she came to the reunion to apologize to Suku for her mistakes. After Suku left for Mumbai, she realizes that Suku was actually a kind and honest person and that it was Satheeshan who put Thara's letter in the ballot box for his political gains. She also learns about Suku's marriage and divorce.

During the get-together, Thara meets Suku in the generator room and she tearfully apologizes to him and they reconcile. During this, Raziya who was also in the room, overhears Suku. He confesses that on the day when Suku and Pious went to take Thara's letter, he hid in the generator room and somebody was already there. In the darkness, thinking it was one of Satheeshan's men, he attacked and inadvertently killed that person who turned out to be Murali. Raziya, consumed with rage, then strangles Suku, when he was alone, using a string from Murali's guitar.

When Suku regains consciousness in the hospital, he tells the police that he tried to commit suicide, instead of what really happened. Suku apologies to Iyer for killing Murali and tells Iyer to kill him as he does not want to live with Raziya's and their curses. Iyer forgives him and asks Suku to be with Thara.

Soundtrack
Alex Paul scored the film's background music and composed its soundtrack, lyrics for which was penned by Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma. The soundtrack album consists of six tracks. The songs were recorded at Panchathan Record Inn, and the soundtrack was released under the Sathyam Audios label. It was released in Thiruvananthapuram on 31 August 2006 in the form of audio cassettes and compact discs.

Reception

Upon the album's release, it topped the charts with the song "Ente Khalbile" receiving significant radio and TV airtime. According to a year-end analysis by Sify, Classmates had become the highest selling soundtrack in Malayalam cinema up to that point. Paresh C. Palicha of Now Running reported, "To say that music of Classmates has become popular would be an understatement. It dominates the charts." The song "Ente Khalbile" further propelled Sreenivasan's playback singing career in Malayalam cinema, becoming his biggest hit. The song "Ente Khalbile" reached number one on the charts on 19 October 2006, while the songs "Kattadi Thanalum" and "Kathuirna" reached the second and fourth spot respectively. "Kattadi Thanalum" and "Kathirunna" dropped to the third and fifth place respectively on 3 November 2006 while, Ente Khalbile retained its top spot. "Ente Khalbile" dropped to the second place on 14 November 2006 when "Karineela Kannilenthedee" reached number one.

Writing for The Hindu, music critic T. P. Sasthamangalam wrote, "The songs in Classmates recalls memories of the golden age of Malayalam music." Like Aniyathipravu and Niram, Lal Jose's Classmates is proving to be a trendsetter." A reviewer from Varnachithram wrote, "The music of the movie too deserves mention. Alex Paul and Vayalar Sharat Chandra Varma’s songs re-create the spirit of the campus with very memorable songs. Our favorite is "Ente Khalbile"." Unni Nair of Now Running wrote that the film's music adds to the "charm" of the film. Paresh C. Palicha of Now Running wrote, "Classmates is a rare phenomenon in recent times where music plays an integral part of the narrative, and that is the reason for its success."

Release
Produced by Arya Films and distributed by Lal Creations, Classmates was released to low expectations, on 25 August 2006, during the Onam holiday period. It faced competition from other releases such as the Mohanlal-starrer Mahasamudram. The film opened to a wide audience, with 47 screens across Kerala. The DVD of the film with 5.1 surround sound was distributed by Central Home Entertainments. It was made available for streaming on Disney+ Hotstar since 2020.

Critical reception
Classmates received mixed-to-positive reviews, with critics praising its direction, story and cinematography. Paresh C. Palicha of Rediff wrote, "Classmates tells a campus story with a difference, and it is a well-narrated tale." He however, criticized the film's second half, writing: "But somewhere along the way, debutant writer James Albert shifts gears and takes the suspense-thriller route that culminates in a solution to the mystery behind Murali's death. Maybe it is a trick played to flummox the audience, but somehow the effort fails to excite." Palicha opined that Lal Jose did a "good job" and praised Rajeev Ravi's cinematography writing, "Though he has shot almost the entire film on a single location, we do not feel the monotony because of Rajeev Ravi's competent cinematography." Writing for The Hindu, Sreedhar Pillai called the film a "trendsetter" and wrote, "The success of Classmates is that its story appeals to all sections of the audience and vividly evokes fond bitter-sweet memories of college days." A critic from Sify wrote, "Lal Jose is a gutsy and daring different director and he proved once again with Classmates." and also termed the film a "trendsetter."

Unni Nair of Now Running wrote, "Director Lal Jose's Onam offering, sends very positive signals as far as the Malayalam film industry is concerned. The refreshingly different film proves that with the back-up of a well-written script and good direction, the younger generation stars too can also work miracles." A critic from entertainment portal IndiaGlitz said, "Other than the color and gaiety of campus life, Lal Jose's throw in a good mix of emotions and suspense. The film which opens with a little indifference soon falls to tracks to deliver the rest that surprises you and offer you an intimate and passionate viewing." They also praise Indrajith's performance writing, "Prithviraj and Kavya lead the show with their regular strengths in emoting, but the pick of the mates is definitely, Indrajith, who shows great timing and flexibility in renditions. He definitely proves once again that he is to go distances in the Malayalam film industry." Varnachithram felt that two aspects made the film "interesting" which was the "nostalgia it creates for the campus life" and the "way of narration." They also praised the performance of the cast, writing that Prithviraj had done an "excellent" job, writing "As we saw in Vargam (2006), playing arrogant head strong characters is his forte. But in this movie he gets to be a romantic as well as a devastated and helpless man." They called Indrajith a "revelation", praising his comedic timing. The critic also wrote "Though we are not big fans of Jayasurya after seeing terrible movies like Immini Nalloral (2005) and Pulival Kalyanam (2003), we were impressed with his role as Sateeshan. He can make a good villain." In October 2021, The Times of India wrote, "The movie keeps the suspense going till the end but most importantly leaves a perfect campus memory."

Box office
On release, initial response was tepid, but favorable word-of-mouth publicity and positive critical response helped it to become a box office success. In Kottayam, Classmates opened at the 288-seater Asha theatre but was shifted to the bigger 1180 Abhilash complex, due to tremendous pressure for tickets. It emerged the Onam winner and completed a 150-day theatrical run. It grossed a distributors' share of ₹2.10 crore in 21 days, which was a record. Despite new releases on Ramadan, the film still held the top spot. It remained the top earning film in Kerala for a period of three months, till the release of Chakkaramuthu. The film completed 150 days run in Thiruvananthapuram and 100 days in Kottayam and Ernakulam as well. It grossed a record distributors' share of ₹26.25 Lakhs in 40 days from Kavitha's theatre, Ernakulam and a record share of ₹14.26 Lakhs in 40 days in Abhilash complex, Kottayam. It became the highest grossing Malayalam film ever in the Kottayam district. The film went on to gross approximately ₹17-25 crores and concluded its final commercial performance with the verdict "blockbuster". The film thus emerged as the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year. According to film-trade website Sify, it was touted to collect ₹10 crores in distributors share by the end of its theatrical run.

Remakes
Classmates has been remade in Tamil as Ninaithale Inikkum, with Prithviraj reprising his role. Narain is replaced by Shakthi Vasu and Kavya is replaced by Priyamani. The Telugu rights for the film was purchased by Shravanthi Ravikishore. The Telugu remake titled Classmates, with Sumanth and Sadha playing the lead roles, released in 2007. In 2015 it was remade in Marathi as Classmates with Ankush Chaudhary, Sai Tamhankar and Siddharth Chandekar.