On the day of his granddaughter Elsy’s (Annu Antony) engagement, he informs his family that he wants a divorce. Initially, everyone laughs it off. But they soon realise that he is being serious. And when Kochithresia hears it, even before we get to see her expression, we see the rice dumpling fall on the ground and scatter, just like their marriage.
From this point onwards, with divorce proceedings in full swing and a wedding on the verge of being cancelled, the film takes you on an emotional ride. But Ganesh treats Pookkaalam like a chaotic comedy about a small-town family dealing with a curve ball. With Basil Joseph playing a dimwitted lawyer and Vineeth Sreenivasan playing his best friend, who doubles up as a judge, there is no dearth of laughs.
The film also lines up a set of quirky characters — twins who marry twins, a person named Guinness, a self-proclaimed inventor trying to create a rice dumpling machine and more. When they all come together as a family, there is much room for misadventures. The film often pauses to remind us that not everything is as perfect as it seems. The family has a forgotten past and undiscussed secrets — a cold war is apparent between a father-in-law and son-in-law and an aunt is conveniently forgotten.
The frames are chirpy and vivid, filled with hues of golden brown, pink, green and yellow, and sometimes a mix of all these. This gives a mellow tone to even a few sad scenarios, emphasising that happiness is always around the corner. Yet the best effect of this technique is felt when all these colours are removed. When Ittoop decides to separate from Kochuthresia, he stays in a completely white room. Besides his sullen face, the melancholy in the atmosphere is made to be felt due to the sudden shift in colours.
