Oru Cheru Punchiri
Directed by	M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Written by	Sriramana (Story) M. T. Vasudevan Nair (Screenplay)
Produced by	Jisha John
Starring	Oduvil Unnikrishnan Nirmala Sreenivasan
Cinematography	Sunny Joseph
Edited by	Beena Paul
Music by	Johnson
Production companies	Chithranjali Studio, Thiruvananthapuram
Release date	September 2000
Running time	89 mins
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Oru Cheru Punchiri (English: A Slender Smile) is a 2000 Malayalam film written and directed by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. This is his sixth film as a director.^[1] The film stars Oduvil Unnikrishnan and Nirmala Sreenivasan in the lead roles. The film is based on Telugu writer Sriramana's short story Mithunam from the novel of the same title.^[2]

Plot

Oru Cheru Punchiri tells the story of a retired estate manager Krishna Kuruppu in his mid seventies and his wife Ammalukutty in her mid sixties continuing their married life in a honeymoon mood. This couple wake up to romantic mornings dense with sweet herbal aroma with the melodious music of birds as the background. They spend their time engaged in games of mischief and even some social activities that they could manage. They make it clear that they would never surrender to the plea of their children coated in love, to sell the ancestral property in the village and move to the city with them. They are happy doing agriculture in the land they own. They have some good neighbours in Janu, her daughter Malathi and helper-boy Kannan. Krishna Kuruppu was instrumental in Janu getting a sweeper's job in the Urban bank there. He also sponsors for Kannan's education. Krishna Kuruppu helps Bhaskaran get a job in the estate he worked. He also arranges the marriage of Bhaskaran and Malathi. He also supports the love affair of his granddaughter Beena with a Muslim youth.

The movie ends with Ammalukutty's decision to continue with this celebration of life even after the death of Krishna Kuruppu.

Cast

• Oduvil Unnikrishnan as Krishna Kuruppu
• Nirmala Sreenivasan as Ammalukutty(Voice by Thankamani)
• Jayakrishnan as Bhaskaran
• Sindhu Shyam as Nirmala(Voice by Nithuna)
• P. K. Venukuttan Nair as Govindettan
• Aliyar as Postman Ramankutty
• Master Vignesh as Kannan
• Thampi Kannanthanam as Ravi
• Sreedevi Unni as Radha
• Paul as Kesu
• Manka Mahesh as Subhadra
• Lena as Beena
• Mukundan as Jayan
• Roslyn as Janu
• Vijayan Peringode as Paulose
• Sarada as Chinnamani

Soundtrack

This film has no songs.

Filming

The film was shot on the banks of the Periyar River at Parappuran, Puthiyedam, Chowwara, Sreemoolanagaram, and Aluva in Kochi, India.

Awards and recognitions

• Special mention at the FIPRESCI awards in 2000.
• Indian National Film Award for the Best Film on Environment Conservation/Preservation in 2001.
• The Kerala State Film Award for the best director of 2000.
• Screened at the third Mumbai International Film Festival in November 2000.
• Screened at the International Film Festival of Kerala in 2001.
• Selected for the Munich International Film Festival.
• last few scenes of the screen play of this movie has been included in the Malayalam textbook for class IX formulated by SCERT