Hridayam

Hridayam is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language coming-of-age romantic drama film written and directed by Vineeth Sreenivasan. It was produced by Visakh Subramaniam through Merryland Cinemas and co-produced by Noble Babu Thomas through Big Bang Entertainments. The film stars Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan and Darshana Rajendran. The film's songs and background score was composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab.

Hridayam marks the return of Merryland Studio, one of the earliest film studios in Kerala, into film production. The film reintroduced once obsolete audio cassettes and limited edition vinyl records in India. Principal photography began in February 2020, after taking a break with the surge of COVID-19 pandemic in India, filming was concluded in March 2021. The film was shot at KCG College of Technology in Chennai, where Vineeth, his wife Divya and his friend and actor Aju Varghese studied, and in Palakkad, Kochi, and Andhra Pradesh.

Hridayam was released in theatres worldwide on 21 January 2022. It received generally positive reviews from critics. The film grossed over inr 500000000 worldwide, becoming the 3rd highest grossing Malayalam film of the year. The film won two Kerala State Film Awards, including Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value.

Plot
Arun, a teenager from Kerala, joins KC Tech, an engineering college in Chennai for graduate studies and falls in love with Darshana at first sight with whom he starts a relationship. Arun accompanies his friend Antony to meet his online girlfriend and feels attracted to her colleague. He lies to her that he is single and leans in for a kiss but is interrupted by moral police. A guilt-ridden Arun confesses to Darshana, who lividly calls off their relationship.

Arun's life goes downhill after the breakup as he takes to ragging juniors and alcohol. He begins a relationship with Maya but doesn't find himself happy. Meanwhile, Darshana starts dating Kedar, a womaniser but later breaks up. At home, Arun's parents notice something is wrong with their son. His father advises him to quit alcohol and turn over a new leaf in his life. He joins their classmate Selva's coaching classes and soon rebounds in academics. Darshana finds herself liking the new Arun. Selva dies in a bus accident. Maya ends her relationship with Arun after her father's death, realising that Arun does not love her.

On the last day of college, all students are led into a room called "the secret alley," where they leave a message for the next batch of students. However, Arun finds himself unable to write anything. Darshana, who accompanies Arun to his train, asks him if they would have still been together if not for the argument four years ago. He does not have an answer. After graduation, Arun gets a job during a campus interview.

Two years later, Arun feels dissatisfied with his job and leaves it. Darshana, now a YouTube vlogger, advises him to pursue his dreams. On a bus journey, he meets Jimmy, a wedding photographer who needs a partner, who drags him to photography. They start a company that specialises in intimate weddings. He gets their company a shoutout from Prateek Tiwari, his batchmate at KC Tech who is now a popular Bollywood singer. After the shoutout, they get lots of bookings and enquiries and become famous. Arun now feels content with what he is doing.

During one such wedding assignment, Arun glimpses Nithya Balagopal and feels instantly attracted to her. Impressed with his photographs, Nithya recommends Arun to her cousin, who is about to be married. However, Arun discovers that the groom is Kedar and exposes his character to Nithya. The wedding is called off and Nithya is grateful to Arun for saving her cousin's life. They grow closer and Nithya accompanies Arun to Chennai for a wedding. With their parents' approval, Nithya and Arun get married. Darshana attends the wedding reception but finds herself unable to come to terms with the fact that Arun can no longer be hers and leaves in tears. Nithya gives birth to a baby boy. A joyous Arun conveys the news to Darshana first. When asked to name the newborn baby boy, Arun remembers Selva and names his son after him.

Darshana's marriage is fixed, and Arun and Nitya go to her place for the same. That night, Darshana calls him to meet her at the same place they confessed their feelings to each other, the beach. Arun initially tries to secretly leave but then confesses to Nithya that he is going to meet Darshana. She allows him and goes back to sleep peacefully alongside Selva. Darshana expresses her reservations about marriage to Arun, and asks him again if they would have still been together were it not for the argument. Arun reminisces about the good memories he had with Nithya and Selva and assures Darshana that such moments will come in her life as well. Darshana gets married, and Arun feels happy.

While in Chennai, returning to the airport, Arun takes a detour to KC Tech and gets the key to the secret alley. He writes a thank you note to the college for making him who he is and exits the campus, after which he, Nithya and Selva return home.

Development
Hridayam was officially announced in December 2019, set to be produced by Visakh Subramaniam and co-produced by Noble Babu Thomas, starring Pranav Mohanlal, Kalyani Priyadarshan, and Darshana Rajendran, intended to be released during Onam 2020. The film marks the comeback of film studio Merryland Studio into film production after a hiatus of 30 years, under the new company Merryland Cinemas. Vineeth told in an interview that the characters in the film draws inspiration from moments and memories from his and his wife's lives and their friends' from college and life beyond that. According to Vineeth, Hridayam is about a young man named Arun Neelakandan and "tracks his journey right from when he was 17 to 30 years old. We have tried to convey the various highs and lows in his life, his friendships, love, emotional ups and downs, career-related uncertainties, up to the time he is about to be a family man". He described the film as a coming-of-age drama. Talking about how much of his real-life is presented in the film, Vineeth said that it is "based on a lot of incidents that happened during my college life in Chennai. The first half of the film is a cinematic dramatisation of real-life events. Thattathin Marayathu is a campus I am not familiar with. But this is home". About casting Pranav, Vineeth said that he liked him from Aadhi, there was something special about his eyes and smile in it, and that he wanted a charmer rather than an accomplished actor, like Suriya in Vaaranam Aayiram or Logan Lerman in The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Filming
The film began principal photography in early February 2020. After a schedule in Kochi, filming was shifted to Kollengode, Palakkad for a two-day schedule. The film's main location was Chennai. Filming was paused in March 2020 due to a 21-day COVID-19 lockdown in India. By then about 50 percent of the film was complete, primarily featuring Pranav and Darshana. Filming was put on hold indefinitely after the surge of COVID-19 pandemic. It was resumed in January 2021. Kalyani joined the sets. Vineeth recalled in an interview that he never saw Pranav reading his dialogues on location as he would have learned it by rote. Significant parts of the film takes place in a college. It was shot at KCG College of Technology in Chennai, where Vineeth and his wife studied. That schedule was concluded in Kochi on 21 January. Vineeth said that Hridayam gave him the most fun working in a film since Thattathin Marayathu. For certain scenes,Rohit [A.D.F Of Mumbai] made the actors listen to music to get them feel the mood of the scene. Another schedule in Chennai was concluded on 11 February, about 95 percent of the film was complete by then. Principal photography was complete by mid-March, with one song remaining to be shot with limited crew. The film, which was originally charted to shoot for 100 days in multiple schedules was able to complete in 60 or more days. The follow-up 5-day song shoot was held in July 2021 in Andhra Pradesh. Post-production of the film was completed by October 2021.

Music
The music for the film was composed by Hesham Abdul Wahab. In early 2020, Vineeth went to Istanbul to record pieces of music for the film. Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran has sung a song for the film. Beside acting, Darshana Rajendran has sung the track "Darshana". The track list was revealed on 21 June 2021 on the occasion of World music day. Audio mastering of the film was completed by September 2021. Audio rights of the movie was acquired by Think Music. Hridayam is bringing back audio cassettes and limited edition vinyl records back to India, which was a dream shared by Vineeth, Hesham, and Think Music executives. Since its production was obsolete in the country, Think Music had to partner with a cassette manufacturer in Japan to import its physical copies to India.

Theatrical
When the filming was through midway in March 2020, the producers announced that the film will have a theatrical release. In October 2021, it was announced along with the song "Darshana" that the film will have a worldwide theatrical release on 21 January 2022.

Home media
Disney+ Hotstar acquired the film's post-theatrical digital distribution and premiered on 18 February 2022; the satellite rights were bagged by Asianet.

Box office
The film was a commercial success and earned more than inr 500000000 at the box office.

Critical response
It received generally positive reviews from critics. Rating 3 out of 5 stars, The New Indian Express said that "Vineeth Sreenivasan has structured Hridayam in a way that makes it seem like you're watching two feel-good films for the price of one", and that the film has a therapeutic quality that "makes you feel less embarrassed about the awkward, foolish things you did in the past", and "as a coming-of-age drama, Hridayam is to Vineeth Sreenivasan what Premam was to Alphonse Puthren. (If given a choice, I would easily pick Hridayam over Premam). It's one of those films I wanted to hug once the end credits started rolling", also praised the casting. The Times of India gave a rating of 3.5 on 5 and wrote "Hridayam tries to give a realistic, coming-of-age depiction of a Malayali's campus life in Chennai and those who have done engineering in the city might connect with it the best, thanks to the different moods, flavours and vibes of the city woven into the narrative in a hearty manner ... The movie has an interesting emotional core, brought out by performances of Pranav, Darshana and others, which makes gentle tugs at the viewers' heartstrings". The Week also rated 3.5 out of 5, called it "a coming-of-age drama high on emotions" and stated that "Vineeth Srinivasan is back with a feel-good, new-age drama that most youngsters can relate to ... Arun is safe in the hands of Pranav, who has indeed grown as an actor", also praised the music and cinematography.

The Quint rated the film 2.5 on 5 and wrote that "Hridayam is Vineeth's labour of love, a tribute to his campus life"; the film is "a fun-filled coming-of-age drama set in a typical engineering college campus; of love, break-ups, heartaches and the discovery of life in the process, also spilling over to the next phase of the lives of the protagonists", concluding that "Hridayam is eminently watchable and you are sure to leave cinemas with a lighter heart after watching it". Pinkvilla rated the film 3.5 on 5 and described the film "a marvelously structured memory piece on soul searching", saying "Hridayam is a gigantic, ambitious puzzle of a narrative, built confidently around a certain time in a person's life that informs the type of person that you turn out to be in the future. The screenplay is infused with fifteen songs yet the interlacing works for the nature of the story, a character driven memory piece as opposed to a plot heavy drama". Manorama Online wrote that "there is romance, friendship, heartbreak, pathos, and life in Hridayam. That's Hridayam in very simple terms. A beautiful gift during these trying times ... One can't even visualise any other actor in place of Arun Neelakandan. Pranav has come a long way since his first film. His charm is undeniable. And that's exactly what makes us warm up to Arun Neelakandan".

Legacy
The Secret alley scene in the movie is spoofed in 2024 Malayalam movie Premalu directed by Gireesh AD