Director Arun Anirudhan's Athiradi, starring Tovino Thomas and Basil Joseph, has opened to generally positive reviews from critics and audiences. While there has been some criticism for the casting of Basil in it and some of the storytelling elements, critics have generally found the film to be enjoyable.
After opening in theatres to a box office collection of 5.50 crore on Thursday, according to data from Sacnilk, the film earned 4.25 crore on Friday. The Athiradi box office collection has been impressive, especially considering the fact that both have been weekdays, notwithstanding the factor of summer holidays for school children. So far this Saturday, it has minted 1.41 crore from theatres in India, taking the overall tally to 13.63 crore (gross) and 11.73 crore (net).
The film follows Samkutty (Basil), a college student who revives a festival at his college after its absence for a few years, only to trigger an ego battle with a ruffian (Tovino Thomas) that turns into a chaotic rivalry between the two.
The film also stars Vineeth Sreenivasan, Vishnu Agasthya, Riya Shibu, Shaan Rahman, and Zarin Shihab, among others.
In our Athiradi movie review, Vignesh Madhu wrote, "The film benefits immensely from not taking itself too seriously. Take, for instance, the scene where Basil talks about his family's bitter past. Despite him talking about unpleasant things, the writers keep slipping in the right dose of fun to ensure it doesn't sound like the usual melodramatic monologue. Vineeth Sreenivasan and Shaan Rahman’s hilarious performances, some judicious use of meta references, and, more importantly, Tovino shedding all vanity to play a character like Kuttan work strongly in the film’s favour."
Athiradi brings Basil and Tovino back together for the first time after Minnal Murali, which the former directed and the latter starred in. Notably, the film is directed by the writer of the superhero venture.
