Oru Vadakkan Selfie

Oru Vadakkan Selfie
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	G. Prajith
Written by	Vineeth Sreenivasan
Produced by	Vinod Shornur
Starring	Nivin Pauly Manjima Mohan Aju Varghese Vineeth Sreenivasan Neeraj Madhav Santhosh Keezhattoor
Cinematography	Jomon T. John
Edited by	Ranjan Abraham
Music by	Shaan Rahman
Production company	Cast N' Crew
Distributed by	LJ Films Popcorn Entertainments
Release date	27 March 2015 (2015-03-27)
Running time	142 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹4 crore[1]
Box office	est. ₹25 crore[2][3][4]

Oru Vadakkan Selfie (transl. A Northerner's selfie) is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language road-comedy film directed by G. Prajith and scripted by Vineeth Sreenivasan.^[5] The film features Nivin Pauly, Manjima Mohan, Aju Varghese, Neeraj Madhav, and Vineeth Sreenivasan.^[6][7] The music was composed by Shaan Rahman. It was released on 27 March to positive reviews,^[8] and became one of the biggest grossing Malayalam films of the year. Some news media and the Kerala Film Producers Association called it the first successful Malayalam film of 2015. This movie marks the debut of Manjima Mohan as an actress in a Malayalam movie. Earlier, she appeared as a child artist in films, including Priyam and Sundara Purushan. The film was remade in Telugu as Meda Meeda Abbayi. The 2017 Bengali movie Bolo Dugga Maiki was partially based on this movie.

Umesh Manohar is a 21-year-old lazy and spoilt engineering student who has 42 backlog subjects to clear. His close pals are Shaji and Thankaprasad. Wanting to find a quick way to earn money and fame, he decides to try his hand at movies and wants to assist none other than the renowned South-Indian director Gautham Vasudev Menon. Shaji suggests that Umesh make a short film and upload it on the internet, but the result is utter failure, after losing the camera in an accident. Umesh's father orders him to help him to run his small shop. To avoid such a bleak future, Umesh catches the next train to Chennai from his hometown, Thalassery, Kannur. On the train, he sees Daisy, his neighbour back home. Umesh tries to woo Daisy throughout the journey but miserably fails. He lies to his friends that they are having an affair, tricks her into posing for a selfie with him, and sends it to Shaji.

After spending six days in Chennai, realizing that he is not cut out for the struggle to enter the film industry, he returns to his town in Thalassery, where he finds a slew of people waiting for his return. He learns that his hometown is hot with news of his elopement with Daisy. The selfie clicked by him had created a big problem among his family and neighbours. He finds out that Shaji had been the one who told them. He returns to Chennai immediately with Shaji to find her and prove his innocence, where they meet a private detective named Jack Tracker, with whom he had fought earlier when chasing Daisy.

With the help of Jack, Umesh finds Daisy, and later, it is revealed that she is in love with a man named Harinarayan and wants to marry him. She also tells them that she had known him and communicated through social media, like Facebook and emails, but had never met him. Later, Umesh, Daisy, Shaji, and Jack set out to find Hari, and they travel to his hometown, Pazhani. The gang later manages to go to Hari's house with the help of a farmer, who is also a Keralite. It is revealed that Hari committed suicide a year before, as his friend and business partner, John Mathew Bhaskar, had cheated him in their business venture. John then used Hari's online accounts to cheat others.

Jack then reveals that he is an officer from Tamil Nadu CBCID (Crime Branch Crime Investigation Department) economic investigation wing, his real name is Nivin, and he did all this to find the brains behind the online money fraud. He also says that the true intention of the guy on the Internet is to cheat young women and steal their money. After the confusion is cleared, Umesh, Daisy, and Shaji go back to Kerala. A few months later, Umesh meets Nivin at a resort, where he tells Umesh that the cybercell group has found the real culprit, John. Nivin then lets Umesh vent out his anger on John for cheating on innocent girls as he did to Daisy. Umesh is then shown walking to a nearby table and asking whether the man sitting there is John. The movie ends with the man answering yes and Umesh smashing a bottle on his head.

Filmibeat gave a rating of 3/5 and said "A hilarious entertainer for this Vishu season, which will make you laugh your heart out". Malayala Manorama gave a rating of 3.25/5.^[11] The Times of India mentions it to be "worth a watch for the performance of its vibrant cast and many moments of wit they pull off effortlessly" and awards a rating of 3/5 stars.^[12] The New Indian Express labeled it as "A Good-humoured Mass Selfie".^[13] International Business Times rated 3.5/5 stars and called it "A hilarious flick from Nivin Pauly-Aju Varghese team" and concluded "Overall, Oru Vadakkan Selfie is worth your time and money if you are looking ahead for a fun-filled day".^[14]

There have been announcements about remaking the film in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada. The remake rights for some of the languages have been sold while discussions regarding the others are progressing.^[4][15]

Oru Vadakkan Selfie had what the IB Times called an "overwhelming start" in its first weekend, which resulted in many exhibitors increasing the number of screenings for the film.^[16] According to the Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA), the film earned a distributor share of around ₹3 crore (US$360,000) in its first week of release. KFPA called the film as the "first super hit of 2015".^[17] The film stayed in the fifth position in its sixth weekend, owing to the release of new films.^[18] Suresh Shenoy stated that the Vishu festival season of 2015 had "turned out to be a dampener except for the continuing rush for Oru Vadakkan Selfie".^[19]

The production budget was around ₹4 crore (US$480,000).^[1] The gross collection is estimated as over ₹25 crore.^[20] The film ran for over 100 days and more in 24 releasing centres.^[21][22]

The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Shaan Rahman. The lyrics were written by Vineeth Sreenivasan, Manu Manjith, and Anu Elizabeth Jose.

• Oru Vadakkan Selfie at IMDb