Kalasadhan Ullas is a ganamela singer who has worked for the popular ganamela troupe Kalasadhan for the past 26 years. His family consists of his wife Mini and daughter Sowmya. However, Ullas's life takes a different turn after a girl named Sandra enters his life for a nefarious purpose. How he handles the following incidents forms the crux of the story.
Ramesh Pisharody announced his second directorial venture on 1 November 2018 by unveiling the title poster featuring Mammootty.[7] It was screened in theatres with Mohanlal-starrer Drama (2018).[8][9] According to Pisharody, "The film is about the life of a senior singer. The character is influenced by some singers I know. It's not a fully serious story. You can expect some humour as well."[10] Newcomer Vanditha was brought in to play one of the female leads.[11]
The principal photography of the film began at Kochi on 1 June 2019.[12] Mammootty has three getups, one of which is with long hair.[13] He completed shooting on 22 July 2019.[14][15]
In the UAE, it grossed $125,902 in the opening weekend and $172,068 in three weeks.[19] It grossed $18,710 (₹13.32 lakh) in the US in three weeks.[20] The film ended as a financial succuss, with a worldwide gross of ₹18.5 crore of which the final global theatrical share is estimated to be ₹9.75 crore with recovery more than 20 percent.[21]
The Times of India rated the film 3.5 out of 5 and wrote, "The strength of Ganagandharvan though is the acting and script. While Pisharody has resorted to straightforward, old school storytelling, he has done it with panache, proving that a good script does not need any gimmick to entertain the audience."[22]Manorama Online gave 3 out of 5 and wrote, "Director Ramesh Pisharody has successfully presented a small yet relevant subject without making the audience feel tedious or irksome. This movie is sure to cater to the interests of all kinds of audience.[23]Sify rated the film 2 out of 5, described the film "average" and wrote "there is a fine idea here that is worth a story, but the way the script has been written and packaged makes this one a rather dull affair".[24]
The News Minute critic rated 1.5 out of 5 stars and said "Ganagandharvan tries too hard with badly written comedy. Except the occasional wisecrack or a reference to an old movie (the scene with Karaman Sudheer), the film is largely not amusing".[25]Anna M. M. VetticadofFirstpost rated 0.25 out of 5 and wrote "Pisharody's failure lies not only in his status-quoist, antagonistic ideology, but in his inability to tell a story well" and heavily criticized the anti-feministic writing.[26] Manoj Kumar R of The Indian Express rated zero out of five stars and said the film "has a skeleton of a story to tell", "it is unclear why Mammootty would do such an in-your-face, one tone and biased film that neither understands men’s right activism or the plight of men that fall into the trap of some evil women".[27] SR Praveen of The Hindu wrote "The whole appearance, aesthetics and structure of the movie harks back to a time gone by in Malayalam cinema. In that sense, the movie is almost like the titular character Ganagandharvan, who has become irrelevant, but doesn’t know ".[28]
