Chanthupottu

Chanthupottu
The music CD cover
Directed by	Lal Jose
Produced by	Lal
Written by	Benny P. Nayarambalam
Starring	Dileep, Gopika, Lal, Bhavana, Indrajith
Music by	Vidyasagar
Cinematography	Azhagappan
Editing by	Ranjan Abraham
Distributed by	Lal Release
Release date(s)	26 August 2005
Language	Malayalam
Budget	4 crores
Box office	20 crores

Chanthupottu is a 2005 Malayalam film directed by Lal Jose, written by Benny P. Nayarambalam, and produced by Lal. It is the story of a man named Radhakrishnan (Dileep) who was brought up like a girl by his grandmother.

Plot

Radhakrishnan (Dileep) is brought up like a girl by his grandmother (Sukumari) who wanted a granddaughter.there by, he becomes an effeminate. She calls him Radha, which becomes his petname. Radha's father Divakaran (Lal) goes to jail for a murder that he accidentally commits. Radha is the ridicule among the people in the village but he is not worried and spends time with the girls singing and he also teaches dancing. His best friend is Malu (Gopika) who is wooed by Kumaran (Indrajith) a local money lender and the son of the man whom Radha’s father had killed.

Divakaran comes back from jail and is shocked to see that his only son is a good for nothing transvestite, but can do nothing about it. Slowly Radha’s liking for Malu turns into love and when Kumaran sees it, he beats up Radha with the help of her father (Rajan P. Dev) a local astrologer and dumps him in deep sea. But he is saved by Freddy (Biju Menon). Freddy takes him to the former's native where he is living with his sister Rosy (Bhavana), where he becomes a part of their family. He also discovers the manly element him and starts to transform from his female mannerisms slowly.

Later when he meets someone from his village, Radha comes to know that his parents have been killed by Kumaran and Malu has given birth to his child. How Radha goes back and takes revenge forms the rest of the story.

Characterisation of Radha

The character of Radhakrishnan, a cross-dressing man form a family of fishermen is well documented in the film. It shows the boy's grandmother's strong desire for a girl as her grandchild and her frustration when a boy is born. She even refuses to see the boy, however when she sees him she accepts the truth. However, that doesn't stop her from bringing him up as a girl child. She even dresses him like a girl and calls him Radhey, a feminine name. His parents don't intervene, probably fearing the wrath of the grandmother. This induces a kind of femininity in him, even his mannerisms closely resembles women. To add to the situation, his father goes to jail leaving Radha to grow up with his femininity and transvestism. He, instead of going fishing like other men, teaches dance to girls. He is constantly in the company of girls; he plays their games and also gets teased by people of the village. He discovers that his deep affection for his childhood friend Malu, is actually love. This is preceded by an attempt by some hooligans (oolanmar, in Radha's terms) to molest him and his mother's advice that loving and marrying a girl would prove his manhood. Malu also is fond of Radha, and they engage in sexual activities. Even that doesn't change his feminine behaviour. Under special circumstances, he reaches another beach, which is more developed and there he is exposed to the outer world. He lives with Freddy and Rosy, who consider him as their lost brother. After several attempts by them, he sheds his transvestism but his femininity still hangs on. The film closes with shots of Radha going for fishing, his ancestral job. It is notable that even in the closing shots, Radha keeps his feminine mannerisms, though to a milder range.

The screenwriter Benny P. Nayarambalam was sensible enough to avoid an immediate switchover to a manly Radha, and to portray his gradual transformation to manhood. The director Lal Jose should also be credited for this. He goes into the finest details of the character, bringing out his desire for manhood and the constraints that his past lifestyle imposes on himself. The actor who portrayed Radha, Dileep arguably presents the character in the most inimitable way. This role which won the Special Jury Award at the Kerala State Film Awards is another testimonial to his versatility.

Cast

• Dileep (Radhakrishnan)
• Gopika (Malu)
• Lal (Divakaran)
• Indrajith (Kumaran)
• Biju Menon (Freddy)
• Bhavana (Rosa)

Crew

• Direction: Lal Jose
• Producer: Lal
• Writer: Benny P. Nayarambalam
• Director of Music: Vidyasagar
• Lyrics: Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma
• Editing: Ranjan Abraham
• Director of Photography: Azhakappan
• Choreography: Sujatha
• Stunt Director: Thyagarajan
• Makeup: Pattanam Shah
• Costume Designer: Manoj Alappuzha
• Creative Support: Walter Jose
• Director of Art: Nemom Pushparaj

Box office

This film collected a total of 20 crores & completed 100 days in 11 centers.

Music

Chanthupottu
Soundtrack album by Vidhyasagar
Released	2005
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Vidhyasagar chronology
Muddula Koduku Chanthupottu Made in USA

• Azhakadalinte - S. Janaki
• Omanapuzha - Vineeth Sreenivasan
• Chandu kudanjoru - Shahabas Aman, Sujatha Mohan
• Kana ponnum - Franco

References

External links

• Chanthupottu at the Internet Movie Database
• http://www.musicindiaonline.com/music/malayalam/s/movie_name.8050