Veteran actor Mammootty has praised the Malayalam film Sthanarthi Sreekuttan, calling it a “fabulous” work in a personal message to actor Aju Varghese, who appears in a major supporting role in the film. The message was shared by the film’s director, Vinesh Viswanath, with visible excitement on his social media handles. The heartfelt endorsement from one of Malayalam cinema’s most respected figures has been warmly received by the film’s makers, who expressed their collective gratitude to Mammootty for his support.

Featuring ARM-fame child actor Sreerang Shine as the titular Sreekuttan, the film has steadily gained popularity since its digital premiere on the OTT platform Saina Play. Set in a government upper primary school, the film explores themes of student democracy, classroom politics, and equality, all through the eyes of a seventh-grade student. The symbolic shift from traditional row-based classroom seating to a semi-circular layout in the film has begun to take root beyond the screen. Initially adopted in a few schools across Kerala, the seating reform has reportedly now found takers in neighbouring Tamil Nadu as well.

Vinesh previously cited influences from Scandinavian education models, notably Norway, in developing the film’s climactic classroom transformation. He also noted that actor-politician KB Ganesh Kumar was among the first to implement the change at a school, following a private screening of Sthanarthi Sreekuttan.