Meleparambil Aanveedu

Meleparambil Aanveedu
VCD Cover
Directed by	Rajasenan
Produced by	Mani C. Kappan
Screenplay by	Raghunath Paleri
Story by	Gireesh Puthenchery
Narrated by	Narendra Prasad
Starring	Jayaram Shobana Narendra Prasad Meena Jagathy Sreekumar Janardanan Oduvil Unnikrishnan Vinu Chakravarthy Vijayaraghavan
Music by	Johnson
Cinematography	Anandakuttan
Editing by	G. Murali
Studio	Okay Productions
Distributed by	Okay Release
Release date(s)	1993
Running time	160 minutes[1]
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	40 lakh (US$81,100)
Box office	3 crore (US$608,400)

Meleparambil Aanveedu (Malayalam: മേലെപരംബില്‍ ആണ്‍വീട്, English: The All-Male House Of Meleparambil) is a 1993 Malayalam musical-romantic comedy film starring Jayaram and Shobana in the lead roles. It also stars Narendra Prasad, Meena, Jagathy Sreekumar, Janardanan, Vijayaraghavan, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, and Vinu Chakravarthy in other pivotal roles. Its story was conceived by lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery and the screenplay was written by Raghunath Paleri.^[2] The film was directed by Rajasenan, and produced by Mani C. Kappan in the banner of Okay Productions and distributed by Okay Release. The film was one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of the early 1990s. It made the list of "14 Greatest Malayalam Movies Ever" as compiled by Manorama News.^[3]

The title of the film comes from the fact that all three sons, Jayakrishnan (Jagathy Sreekumar), Gopikrishnan (Vijayaraghavan), and Harikrishnan (Jayaram), of Thrivikraman Pillai (Narendra Prasad) and Bhanumathi (Meena) of the Meleparambil family are bachelors. Along with that includes Kannappan (Janardanan), Bhanumathi's brother who is also a bachelor.

Plot

Harikrishan (Jayaram) is the youngest son of Thrivikram Muthallali whose brothers Jayakrishnan and Gopikrishan were older and not as handsome as Harikrishnan. He wants to earn a good living and so sets forth to a Tamil village as manager of a courier company. Hari sees a young Tamilin girl named Pavizham (Shobana) who is being forced by her father to get married against her will. The two fall in love and elope.

Hari is afraid of whether or not his parents would agree to their marriage, so he keeps Pavizham under cover as a maid in his home. When Hari goes away on business, his parents come to realize that Pavizham is pregnant and decide to dismiss her from her job. When Hari returns home, he is forced to reveal that Pavizham is his wife. Hari's mother, who likes Pavizham, scolds Hari for keeping his wife as a servant and both she and her husband express their willingness to accept Pavizham as their daughter-in-law.

Cast

• Jayaram as Harikrishnan. Hari is the only educated person from the Meleparambil family.
• Shobana as Pavizham. Pavizham is the wife of Harikrishnan. Circumstances force Hari to make her a servant at his home.
• Narendra Prasad as Thrivikraman Pillai. He is the father of Harikrishnan. This was the first comedy role played by the thespian.
• Meena as Bhanumathi, mother of Harikrishnan. She is sad for having none of her children married.
• Janardanan as Kannappan. He is the uncle of Harikrishnan. Following a love tragedy, he is remains a bachelor. His name is called only at a single sequence, by Bhanumathi, his sister. He is called by the names Ammavan, Machambi and Aangala in the whole movie. The actor, famous for semi-villain roles was typecasted as a comedian only after this film.
• Jagathy Sreekumar as Jayakrishnan. He is the eldest brother of Harikrishnan and Gopikrishnan. Being uneducated and funny person, the comedy of the film is centred around him.
• Vijayaraghavan as Gopikrishnan. He is the younger brother of Jayakrishnan and elder brother of Harikrishnan. Being little talkative, he is somewhat a serious character.
• Oduvil Unnikrishnan as Kuttan Nair. He is a wellwisher of Harikrishnan from Pollachi. He acts as the father of Pavizham when she is brought to Hari's house.
• Paravoor Bharathan as Paramashivan. He is a worker in the Melepparambil family but holds a status of the family member.
• Vinu Chakravarthy as Veeramuthu Gounder, father of Pavizham.
• Indrans as qMarriage broker
• V. D. Rajappan as Swamy, the manager of the company at which Harikrishnan works
• Priyanka Chopra as the daughter of Kuttan Nair.

Crew

• Director: Rajasenan
• Screenplay: Raghunath Paleri
• Story: Gireesh Puthenchery
• Producer: Mani. C. Kappan
• Distributor: Okay Productions
• Music: Johnson
• Editing: G. Murali
• Cinematography: Anandakuttan
• Art: Valsan
• Makeup: Karumam Mohan
• Costumes: Indrans
• Choreography: Madhuri
• Stunts: Malaysia Bhaskar
• Advertisement: Sabu Colonia
• Lab: Prasad Colour Lab
• Stills: Surya Peter
• Effects: Murukesh
• P. R. O.: Abraham Lincoln, Vazhoor Jose
• Production Controller: Gireesh Vaikom
• Outdoor: Sreemovies
• Titles: Ganga Thalaivi

Production

Development

After the success of Jayaram - Rajasenan team's Ayalathe Adyeham, they planned to do another family entertainer. It was at this time that lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery told an interesting story to Jayaram, which was about four bachelors with the youngest one only educated, in a Corleone like family. Jayaram, who was highly inspired by this, probably untold story, decided to produce it himself. The thread was developed by Gireesh and introduced to Rajasenan. It was first developed into a novel and then only to a complete film script. It was Jayaram who suggested Goodknight Mohan to distribute this film. However, Mohan set an unusual demand to Rajasenan, to include some experienced directors to superwise him on script. This was unacceptable to Rajasenan and the project was shelved.

It was at this time that Rajasenan was replaced from the crew of a political film, Janam, produced by Mani. C. Kappan. Kappan assured Rajasenan to produce a film for him, obviously as a compensation for his move. The shelved story of Meleparambil Aanveedu was returned by Mohan, for a reasonable amount of 20,000. It was Calicut based film writer Raghunath Paleri who was selected to write the screenplay.

Casting

The originally decided cast included obviously Jayaram, along with Shobhana, Meena, Jagathy Sreekumar, Oduvil Unnikrishnan etc. Vijayaraghavan was later signed in to do the nearly serious character in the film. Narendra Prasad, who was typecasted for villain roles, was later only selected. It was Innocent originally casted for the role done by Janardhanan. He rejected the role as he was busy with another film, Sakshal Sreeman Chathunni. Janardhanan, widely known for his villain roles was thus selected to do that comedy role. The others in the cast are Vinu Chakravarthy, Priyanka etc.

Filming

The film was initially set in Salem in the script and was to be shot there too. However a practical change was made to replace Salem with Pollachi, both in the script as well as the filming location.

Reception

The film is considered a magnum opus romantic comedy film in Malayalam film history. Not only does it have an unusual plot but also the performances of the lead as well as supporting actors made the film a classic. The film was a break in the career of Jayaram as well as Rajasenan. It also marked the transition of thespian Janardhanan to comedy roles (though he has played a few comedy roles earlier in films like Ramji Rao Speaking etc.) and typecasted Narendra Prasad to character roles. Critically, it is regarded as a trendsetter and one of the best films in the nineties. Camera work of Anandakkuttan was also praised.^{[citation needed]}

It was a big hit in the box-office. The movie, made at a cost of 40 lakhs, collected 2 crores (unadjusted for inflation) from Kerala alone. The comparatively huge collection it made from Tamil Nadu adds to that. Its rights was sold for a then record amount, 25 lakhs.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film is composed by Johnson Master and lyrics penned by Girish Puthenchery, I.S. Kundoor and Kavinjar Kaalidasan. It proved popular upon release.

Song	Artist(s)	Lyrics
"Vellithinkal"	K. J. Yesudas	Girish Puthenchery
"Madhura Swapnangal"	K. J. Yesudas, Sujatha Mohan	I. S. Kundoor
"Vellithinkal"	K. J. Yesudas, Minmini	Girish Puthenchery
"Ooru Sanam Odi Vannu"	K. J. Yesudas, Minmini, Chorus	Girish Puthenchery, Kannadasan

References

1. ^ http://www.chakpak.com/movie/meleparambil-aanveedu/12053
2. ^ http://sify.com/movies/malayalam/fullstory.php?id=14931019
3. ^ http://oldmalayalamcinema.wordpress.com/2010/12/30/prof-narendra-prasads-film-roles-my-favourites-one/

External links

• Meleparambil Aanveedu at the Internet Movie Database
• http://popcorn.oneindia.in/title/6262/meleparambil-aanveedu.html