Athiradi

Plot

Few years back, 2 BCET students Joseph Oommen and Merin are conducting the Aarohan Fest as coordinators. The fest ended up in a tragedy after Merin and 2 other students got killed in a stampede. The tragedy was caused by the juniors who entered the hall after Joseph opened the gates. The juniors, due to their excitement, caused a stampede and tripped the 3 victims and step on them without realizing, which caused the triple murder. The incident made Joseph get depressed and he left the college.

Years later, Samkutty aka 'Sam Boy', the younger brother of Joseph joined the college. As a part of impressing his crush Swathi R. Krishna, he decided to revive the event in order to seem capable enough for Swathi. But after multiple failed attempts, it was already Sam’s last year at college. While everyone else moved on, Sam kept trying to get the event approved. He even succeeded in convincing Vineeth Sreenivasan to perform in their college. Therefore, the committee made a final decision by approving the event. But the committee holds Swathi as the main convener and Vivi, who thinks of himself as ‘Alpha Male’, steals all the credit from Sam and makes it look like Vivi was the only person who put effort into getting the approval for the fest. Sam unfortunately got emotional and couldn’t hold back his tears, and because of this, Sam’s friend Prashanth a.k.a Parashu stands up for Sam and explains Sam’s efforts to everyone, including the fact that Sam got Vineeth Sreenivasan’s approval to perform at the ProShow for the fest, which immediately increased the hype of the event significantly. Parashu also publicly humiliated Vivi in front of the committee and students, while Swathi supported Sam and tries convincing the committee into making Sam as the main convener because of Sam’s remarkable efforts, in which she succeeds and Sam becomes the main convener. After the support from Parashu and Swathi, Sam meets Swathi and explains how he wasn’t really crying and covered it up with a cold. Swathi didn’t mind it or find it funny at all and says that guys who are emotional are very hot, in which Sam realized Swathi called him hot.

The fest was starting to begin and Sam had multiple events ready for action, including a major car stunt show. During the car stunt as a part of the fest, the students blocked the path of local temple circumambulation, leading to a chaos causing Sreekuttan Vellayani, a retired goon and an aspiring singer being humiliated by the students who beat him. Being humiliated, he created chaos in the event by removing the head of a robot and also kidnapping Vineeth Sreenivasan along with Shaan Rahman, who accompanied him.

Sreekuttan after kidnapping Vineeth and Shaan decided to arrange a concert with him in his temple avenging Samkutty. Samkutty being helpless in rescuing Vineeth, initially masked the kidnapping from the students, but was exposed by Sreekuttan who welcomed the students to the concert in the temple.

Samkutty manages to find the hideout of Sreekuttan who with the help of his friends rescued Vineeth and Shaan and succeeded in bringing them in the stage. Sreekuttan became relaxed after hearing Vineeth singing the song which he composed in memory of his mother, for which he created all the chaos. The event also witnessed the reunion of Joseph with his college and the unveiling of magazine which was failed due to Merin's death years back. Samkutty is celebrated in the event after successfully conducting the event and the college rejoicing in the event.

The film ends with Kuttan calling Vineeth and debuts his composition in the temple festival.

Cast

Cameo Appearances

Benjamin P. Joby as Master Agnivesh

Darshana Rajendran as Merin, Joppan's love interest, who died in the college stampede which led to the banning of Arohan fest .

Devan as himself

Hashir H as Dennichan, the owner of the BMW .

Annam Johnpaul as Kuttan's mother in this song "Ammaputhappe"

Sangeeth Prathap as Student (voiceover)

Music

The music and background scores of the movie were composed by Vishnu Vijay. The first single of the movie, "IFYKYK", was released on 28 April 2026. The second single, "Patti Show" was released on 4 May 2026.

Release

Theatrical Release

The film had a paid premiere on 13 May, a day before its release. The film was released on theatres on 14 May 2026. The film received a clean U certificate from the CBFC

Home Media

The post-theatrical streaming rights were acquired by SonyLIV. The film premiered via SonyLIV on 19 June 2026.

Reception

The movie received mixed to positive responses from the critics. Anjana George of The Times of India gave 4 on 5 rating for the movie and wrote that, despite its familiar setup, Athiradi turns out to be one of the most enjoyable entertainers in recent time - a colourful, laughter filled celebration of youth, friendship dreams and second chances. Maruti Acharya of India Today rates 3.5 on 5 for the movie and wrote that, Athiradi is messy in parts and stretched in others, but it never feels dishonest. The friendships work, the humour lands more often than not, and the emotional core involving the brothers gives the film its heart.

Nainu Oommen of The Hindu opined that, the movie is a fun watch, which does not take itself too seriously. The film that recreates the vibes of a loud, energetic college fete, consistently makes you laugh, if you catch the references. Vignesh Madhu of The New Indian Express wrote that Athiradi is one of those films that does not warrant a lot of digging, but just vibing along. Anandu Suresh of The Indian Express gave 2 on 5-star rating for the movie and wrote that, this action comedy is weighed down by a hollow narrative, forced Gen-Z stereotypes, a meme-heavy script, and contrast between its ambitious setup and lack of emotional depth.

The film became a hit in the box office collecting 71 Crore INR worldwide.