Ulahannan does not want to make things right, but is rather forced by that external stimuli (thanks to Neha Saxena and Asha Sarath's characters). The story essentially tries to explore the complacency of middle-class family life. It was like Mohanlal got a cue from the director, and there he goes inverting his gloomy face. Of course, there are external stimuli to this transition, and the makers may term it as the "instant effect of love", but character development is still a thing in modern cinema. However, the transition that he makes from being this snobby husband to a starry-eyed toyboy is unnatural. Ulahannan's character looks underdeveloped, but his feelings of desolation and melancholy are relevant and viewers may be able to relate with it, especially married people. At first look, you would think it's similar to Khalid Rahman's 2016 drama, Anuraga Karikkin Vellam, but then you chuck that thought off and compare it with Jeethu Joseph's 2013 path-breaking crime drama, Drishyam. Everything, to convey a point or two about the importance of uncensored love in a family. M Sindhuraj's story then takes its audience to a lukewarm ride into these characters, their friends, their kin, and some unrelated people. However, there is a deeper theme that the film tries to focus on: Ulahanna's distance from his own wife, and how that affects not only their matrimonial life (sex, too, if you are wondering) but also the lives of the remaining family members. Ulahannan is thus perceived as a reticent, aloof government employee who even keeps his handful of friends at a distance - be it at the workplace or at one of his colony building's terrace where adult men get together by evening to down few ounces and engage in casual banter. The family collectively lead a smooth life with minimum interactions between each other, but the biggest victim of this lack of interaction seems to be the patriarch of the family. He is married to Annie (Meena), a homemaker and equally burly in stature who has gifted him two children, Jini (Aima Sebastian) and Jerry (Sanoop Santhosh). Set in a middle-class neighborhood in a developing panchayat in Kerala, Ulahannan (Mohanlal) is a middle-aged, burly man who heads the local admin office. Two years later, with this family drama, despite being supported by the complete actor, the fact that no one knew about Jacob before that in his 13-year long career gains some substantiation. It was a triumph at political satire supported by the talented Biju Menon.
When cinematographer Jibu Jacob forayed into direction with Vellimoonga in 2014, everyone in the Malayalam film industry, including the audience, noticed.