: Director Lijo Jose Pellissery introduces 86 promising actors to Mollywood through this ‘katta local’ story written by actor Chemban Vinod Jose. The attempt was fraught with risk; however, with this venture Lijo seems to have pulled off a miracle by producing an entertainer film sans any known actor.

The film’s protagonist is Vincent Pepe (Anthony Varghese), who is a quintessential good boy. He is active in church and a mamma’s boy. As his father is away in Karnataka, Vincent in his teenage years grows up idolising one of the local goons, Babuji. Following his lead, Vincent soon forms a gang of his own, who are ready to take on any challenge and one of them is to run a pork business. The hurdles they face in the daily grind take the coming-of-the-age movie forward.

Showcasing a mélange of beautiful visuals, thumping music and natural performances, Angamaly Diaries is one of the more fresh and terrific attempts made by a filmmaker of late in Mollywood. Chemban has weaved in the dialect, food, music and culture of the people in Angamaly to the plot, paying careful attention to every intricate detail, while making it an engaging movie.

It’s the first movie of every actor in the film and that adds a certain amount of freshness in their performance as well. From the protagonist Vincent to the villain Appani Ravi (Sarath Kumar), the whole cast is a discovery in itself. The actors who played Police officer Shahul Hameed, U Clamp Raju, Pork Varkey, 10 ml Thomas, Lichi and Maramkothi are natural at what they do and the perfect casting helped raise the movie to another level.

What makes it more adorable is how Lijo has combined the raw, natural glimpses of the town, captured by Girish Gangadharan, with the narrative. One cannot resist from falling in love with it, as the plot moves on while the background score and music sets the pace. Music composer Prashanth Pillai has done commendable work in featuring the folk songs of Angamaly as part of the film’s tunes.

While each moment in the film will strike a chord with the youth, it will make the elder viewers nostalgic with those mom-made cuisines, romances, which happen undercover and also those unfulfilled love stories.

Angamaly Diaries will take the viewers on a 131-minute tour through the lives of people in the small town and tells the youth that having fun in life is equally significant as being serious about it, and every man will reach a point in his life, where they will have to draw the line between the two.