Chithram

Chithram
DVD cover
Directed by	Priyadarshan
Produced by	P. K. R. Pillai
Screenplay by	Priyadarshan
Starring	Mohanlal Ranjini Nedumudi Venu Poornam Vishwanathan Sreenivasan M. G. Soman Sukumari Innocent Maniyanpilla Raju
Music by	Songs: Kannur Rajan Background music: Johnson
Cinematography	S. Kumar
Editing by	N. Gopalakrishnan
Studio	Shirdi Sai Creations
Distributed by	Shirdi Sai Release
Release date(s)	December 26, 1988 (1988-12-26)
Running time	159 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Box office	3+ Crores[1]

Chithram (Malayalam: ചിത്രം, English: Picture) is a 1988 Malayalam screwball comedy film written and directed by Priyadarshan, based on a story by Sreenivasan. The film stars Mohanlal, Ranjini, Nedumudi Venu, Poornam Vishwanathan, Sreenivasan, Soman, Sukumari, Innocent, and Maniyanpilla Raju in the main roles. The film was a phenomenal success in Kerala and broke all existing records in Malayalam cinema at the time. It had a theatrical run of more than 365 days in some centres and is said to be one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of all time.^[2]It collected 3+ crores from major centres^[1]

Plot

Kalyani (Ranjini) is the daughter of a wealthy NRI Ramachandra Menon (Poornam Vishwanathan) who resides in the United States. Kalyani, brought up in Chennai by her father's friend Kaimal (Nedumudi Venu), falls in love with another man and decides to marry against the wishes of her father. When her boyfriend finds out that she will be disinherited, he ditches her at the altar.

After a short while her father decides to retract his disapproval and spend a fortnight's vacation with his daughter and son-in-law in his estate near a tribal community where Menon is the chief. Because her father is already ill and because this may be his last vacation, Kalyani and Kaimal want to make it as happy for him as possible. They decide to conceal the fact that her boyfriend dumped her.

Kaimal hires Vishnu (Mohanlal) to play the part of the husband for a fortnight. Meanwhile Kalyani's cousin Bhaskaran Nambiar (Sreenivasan) who is the caretaker of the estate was expected to inherit Menon's estate and property when Kalyani was disinherited, is determined not to let go without a fight. He knows that Vishnu is not Kalyani's boyfriend and makes various botched attempts to prove this.

Initially Vishnu and Kalyani do not get along and keep bickering. But as time passes, she develops an affection towards Vishnu and hopes to marry him for real. A couple of days after they have a mysterious visitor (Soman) who claims to be a relative of Vishnu.

Finally it is revealed that Vishnu is actually an escaped convict from jail who is sentenced to death and the visitor turns out to be the prison warden. Vishnu's past is shown in flashback and he was a freelance photographer who was married to a woman named Revathy (Lizy Priyadarshan), a mute dancer. They also had a child. Vishnu discovers that a man was visiting his wife when he was not around and begins to suspect her. Coming home one day he finds the man there and tries to attack him. Revathy dies in the scuffle, Vishnu discovers that the man is actually her brother who is a naxalite. He tells Kalyani that he escaped prison to make money for the surgery of his child.

On the last night of Vishnu's stay at the house, he asks Jail Warden, is it possible for him to live, as he started to like life again. The warden did not reply to his question as he is helpless regarding this. After a happy fortnight, Kalyani's father returns to the US. The final scene shows the warden taking Vishnu to jail, with Kalyani watching him leave, where his execution awaits him.

Cast

Actor	Role	Other notes
Mohanlal	Vishnu
Ranjini	Kalyani
Nedumudi Venu	Kaimal
Poornam Vishwanathan	Ramachandra Menon	Narendra Prasad was the dubbing artist for him
Lizy	Revathy (as Vishnu's wife)
Soman	Jail Warden
Sreenivasan	Bhaskaran Nambiar
Maniyanpilla Raju	A tribal man
Ganeshan	Revathy's Brother (A naxalite)
Sukumari	Bhaskaran Nambiar's mother
Jagadish	Vishnu's friend
Unni Mary	Sister of Bhaskaran Nambiar
Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair	Revathy's father	guest appearance

Soundtrack

The film's music was composed by Kannur Rajan and penned lyrics by Shibu Chakravarthy. M. G. Sreekumar sang most of the songs in the film. Carnatic music singer Neyyattinkara Vasudevan was a guest singer. The classical Krithis like "Nagumo" and "Swaminatha" gained a mass popularity with this film. Playback singer Sujatha Mohan also sang in this movie, marking her return after years of sabbatical. Mohanlal sang two songs "Kaadumi Naadumellam" and "Aey Monnu".

Track	Song Title	Singer(s)	Other notes
1	Eeran Megham	M. G. Sreekumar	Raga: Madhyamavati
2	Paadam Pootha Kaalam	M. G. Sreekumar
3	Nagumo	Neyyattinkara Vasudevan, M. G. Sreekumar	Traditional Keerthanam by Tyagaraja Raga: Abheri
4	Doore Kizhakkudikkum	M. G. Sreekumar, Sujatha
5	Aey Moonnu	Mohanlal	Traditional Folk
6	Paadam Koyyum Munpe	Sujatha
7	Swaminaatha	M. G. Sreekumar	Traditional Keerthanam by Muthuswami Dikshitar Raga: Nattai
8	Kaadumi Naadumellam	Mohanlal, Sujatha, Chorus

Trivia

• The movie was later remade in Telugu in 1990 as Alludugaru by legendary Telugu director K.Raghavendra Rao. The cast included Mohan Babu, Sobhana and Ramya Krishnan.

• The movie was also adapted and remade in Hindi as Pyar Hua Chori Chori with Mithun Chakraborty and Gouthami.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "3+ crore gross for chitram"
2. ^ Shobha Warrior (September 3, 2003). "25 years, 25 landmarks". Rediff. http://www.rediff.com/movies/2003/sep/03mohan1.htm. Retrieved March 3, 2011. "The Priyadarshan-Mohanlal team comes up with a comic tragedy, Chitram. The film runs for 415 days in a theatre in Kerala." 

External links

• Chithram at the Internet Movie Database