Godfather (1991 film)

Godfather is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film written and directed by Siddique–Lal. It is produced by Appachan under the banner of Swargachithra. The film stars an ensemble cast consisting of N. N. Pillai, Thilakan, Mukesh, Kanaka, Jagadish, Innocent, Philomina, Siddique, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Sankaradi, Paravoor Bharathan, Janardhanan, Bheeman Raghu, and Kundara Johnny.

Godfather
VCD cover
Directed bySiddique-Lal
Produced byAppachan
Written bySiddique-Lal
StarringN. N. Pillai
Thilakan
Mukesh
Kanaka
Jagadish
Innocent
Philomina
Siddique
K. P. A. C. Lalitha
Sankaradi
Bheeman Raghu
Music byS. Balakrishnan
Lyrics:
Bichu Thirumala
CinematographyVenu
Edited byK.R. Gaurishankar
T.R. Shekhar
Production
company
Swargachithra
Distributed bySwargachithra Release
Release date
  • 15 November 1991 (1991-11-15)
Running time
150 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Godfather won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Popular Film. The film was remade into Telugu as Peddarikam (1992) and into Marathi as Ghayaal (1993). In 2004, Priyadarshan remade the film in Hindi as Hulchul. It was also remade in Kannada as Pandavaru (2006)[1] and in Odia as Love Dot Com.

Plot

Anjooran (N. N. Pillai), and his four sons Balaraman (Thilakan), Swaminathan (Innocent), Premachandran (Bheeman Raghu) and Ramabhadran (Mukesh) are in severe enmity with the Anappara family. Anjooran's bitter hatred toward Anappara Achamma (Philomina) stems from events in the past, when the men of Anappara abducted Balaraman's fiancée and forced her to marry the eldest son of Achamma. The resulting series of events saw Anjooran's wife being killed, and him being sent to jail for avenging her by murdering Achamma's husband. Consequently, he develops a hatred toward all women, and their entry into his home is prohibited from then on.

Anjooran's youngest son Ramabhadran is a law student. At college, he and his friend Mayin Kutty (Jagadish) try all means to humiliate their classmate Malu (Kanaka), who is the granddaughter of Achamma. Malu gets engaged to Shyam Prasad, a young state minister, but the minister withdraws from the relation as Anjooran intervenes and threatens him of political consequences. Incensed, Achamma hatches a plan to divide Anjooran's family by having Malu seduce Ramabhadran and making him turn against his father. When Malu expresses her feelings to Ramabhadran, as per the advice of her grandmother, Mayin Kutty ideates that Ramabhadran could divide the Anappara family by seducing Malu and turning her against them. On his advice, Ramabhadran too acts as if he is in love with her. The facade soon falls and they really fall in love with each other. While wondering about ways to get his family to support this relationship, he gets to know that Swaminathan is leading a secret double life as Ramanathan, with a wife Kochammini (K. P. A. C. Lalitha) and two kids. When confronted with this information, Swaminathan promises to help unite him and Malu.

Through a turn of events, Anjooran comes to know of Ramabhadran's love affair and Swaminathan's deceptiveness. Consequently, they're both ostracised from the family. Over at Anappara, Achamma is shocked to know that Malu's love is not a mere act. She and her sons decide to get her married to the family's advocate's son (Ravi Vallathol). However, she still tries to bring her plans to fruition by sending out signals that the house is divided over the issue. To this end, she sends her sons to beg for Anjooran's help in preventing Ramabhadran from marrying Malu (a request that Anjooran approves), and approaches Ramabhadran himself assuring him of all help in doing so.

However, Achamma does not know that her youngest son Veerabhadran (Siddique) is sympathetic to the lovers' cause and has revealed her plan to Ramabhadran. With his help, Ramabhadran sneaks in to the marriage hall and almost marries Malu. Enraged, Achamma curses Anjooran for not being vigilant enough, exposing her duplicity. Ramabhadran then admits that he sneaked in not to marry Malu, but to foil Achamma's plan and save his father's honour. A regretful Anjooran allows the wedding of Ramabhadran and Malu to take place and welcomes both him, Swaminathan and their families back into the fold, thereby paving the way for the entry of women into his house once again.

Cast

Soundtrack
Godfather
Soundtrack album by
S. Balakrishnan
Released1991
GenreWorld Music
ProducerAppachan
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."Manthrikochamma Varunnundee"K. G. Markose 
2."Neer Palunkukal"M. G. Sreekumar, Sujatha Mohan 
3."Neer Palunkukal" (Male)M. G. Sreekumar 
4."Pookkalam Vannu Pookkalam"K. S. Chithra, Unni Menon 

Box office

The film ran for 417 days in theatres in Thiruvananthapuram. Especially the film ran for 417 days in Sreekumar, Trivandrum.

[2][3]

Awards

Trivia
  • This was the third film by Siddique-Lal and broke many collection records at Kerala box-office. The film completed 417 days at Sreekumar theater in Thiruvananthapuram.
  • Theater legend N. N. Pillai made his film debut as Anjooran. Kanaka was also introduced into Malayalam film industry through Godfather.
  • Preview show of the film was done 3-4 days before at Chennai and the same was attended by Director Maniratnam and many famous actors.
  • The scene where Mukesh and Kanaka hugged each other and Philomena seeing the same was retaken many times as Director Siddiq wanted to make the scene different and that was the time when he asked Mukesh to do the humorous part of vanishing from the scene, which was widely accepted by the audience in theatre.
  • Manthrikochamma song was sung by Marcos but the chorus part of the song was sung by the Lyricist Bichu Thirumala.
  • The scene where Jagdish fell from the tree while trying to enter Malus house, the scene was planned by using a rope and pulley, but the rope broke and he fell from the tree trunk without a harness that added to the comic effect because of the genuineness.
  • Bhiman Raghu was not initially cast in the movie, he was a replacement for the actor Nedumudi Venu, which actually gave him a break. Also, his father acted as the principal in Malu & Ramabhadran’s college.

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhkNMXPHW98
  2. "Spell of Mollywood Movies Released in 1991 Still Grips Hearts". The New Indian Express. 9 January 2016.
  3. "Malayalam films remade in Hindi". The Times of India. 29 July 2015.
  4. "Film Critics Award 1991" – via YouTube.
  5. https://www.filmcompanion.in/features/malayalam-features/25-malayalam-comedies-for-every-mood-available-on-youtube/amp/
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