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Narasimham
DVD cover
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	Ranjith
Produced by	Antony Perumbavoor
Starring	Mohanlal Thilakan Kanaka N. F. Varghese Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran Jagathy Sreekumar
Cinematography	Sanjeev Sankar
Edited by	L. Bhoominathan
Music by	Songs: M. G. Radhakrishnan Score: C.Rajamani
Production company	Aashirvad Cinemas
Distributed by	Swargachitra
Release date	26 January 2000 (2000-01-26)
Running time	175 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹1.1 crore
Box office	est. ₹22 crore

Narasimham (transl. The man-lion) is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Ranjith. Narasimham was released on 26 January 2000, India's 50th Republic Day, and ran for 200 days in theatres and grossed over 20 crores worldwide, which at time was a record in the Kerala Box Office. The film stars Mohanlal in the title role with Thilakan, Kanaka, N. F. Varghese, Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran and Jagathy Sreekumar in pivotal roles. Mammootty appears in a cameo role. The film was the first production of Aashirvad Cinemas, owned by Antony Perumbavoor, the former chauffeur of Mohanlal.

The film was re-released under the name Narasimham Returns in 2014, which premiered in Dubai and was re-released in Kerala on several occasions, where it still enjoys a cult following. The film was remade in Telugu as Adhipathi (2001), starring Mohan Babu, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Preeti Jhangiani and Soundarya.

Plot

Poovalli Induchoodan is the only son of idealistic High Court Justice Maranchery Karunakara Menon, who is sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for murdering his classmate. He later learns that the Home Minister, Manapally Madhavan Nambiar and his crony DYSP Sankaranarayanan had framed him to seek revenge on Justice Menon who had earlier given jail sentence to Manapally in a corruption case. Induchoodan, who had achieved rank in Civil exams loses the post and Manapally Sudheeran, Manappally's younger son enters the list of civil service trainees.

It is later revealed that Ramakrishnan, who is the son of Mooppil and Manappally's top supporters, was the real killer. After 6 years, Madhavan Nambiar, who is now a former state minister, is dead and Induchoodan is released from prison. Induchoodan thwarts Manapally Pavithran, Manappally's elder son from performing the funeral rituals of his father at the banks of Bharathapuzha. Many confrontations between Induchoodan and Manapally's henchmen begin. Justice Menon and his wife Sharada return to Kerala to stay with Induchoodan. A girl named Indulekha claims to be the daughter of Justice Menon. Indulekha was manipulated by the Manappally's family members to take revenge on Induchoodan. Menon flatly refuses the claim and banishes her.

Forced by circumstances and at the instigation and help of Manapally Pavithran, she reluctantly comes out open with the parentage claim. At first, Induchoodan thrashes the protesters, but upon knowing the truth from his maternal uncle Chandrabhanu, he accepts the task of her protection as her elder brother. Induchoodan decides to marry Indulekha to his good friend Jayakrishnan where he confronts Justice Menon and prods him to accept the mistake and acknowledge the parentage of Indulekha. Menon ultimately regrets and secretly goes on to confess to his daughter.

The next morning, Induchoodan returns to Poovally, where he learns that Indulekha is found dead and Menon is accused of murdering her. The whole act was planned by Pavithran, who after killing Indulekha forces Raman Nair (Menon's long time servant) to testify against Menon in court. In court, Nandagopal Marar, a close friend of Induchoodan and a Supreme Court lawyer, appears for Menon and manages to lay bare the murder plot and hidden intentions of the other party. Menon is proved innocent and is released. After confronting Pavithran and promising to avenge Indulekha's death, Induchoodan meets Justice Menon, who is remorseful for all his actions, including not believing in the innocence of Induchoodan.

While speaking to Induchoodan, Menon suffers a stroke and passes away. At Menon's funeral, Manapally Pavithran arrives to poke fun at Induchoodan and also tries to carry out the postponed last rituals of his own father. Induchoodan interrupts the ritual and avenges the death of Indulekha and Justice Menon by severely injuring Pavithran. On his way back to a peaceful life, Induchoodan accepts Anuradha, who is the robust and honest daughter of Mooppil Nair as his life partner. This film was a mass class movie one of the best successful movies of Mohanlal.

Cast

• Mohanlal as Poovalli Induchudan "Achu"
• Thilakan as Justice Maranchery Karunakara Menon, Induchudan's father
• N. F. Varghese as Manappally Pavithran, the elder son of Nambiar
• Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran as Anuradha, Induchudan's love interest ( voice over by Sreeja Ravi )
• Kanaka as Indulekha, Menon's illegitimate daughter ( voice over by Bhagyalakshmi )
• Jagathy Sreekumar as Poovalli Chandrabhanu, Induchudan's maternal uncle
• Bharathi as Sharada, M. K. Menon's wife and Induchudan's mother
• Vijayakumar as Jayakrishnan, Induchudan's friend
• Kalabhavan Mani as Bharathan, Induchudan's friend
• Sadiq as Govindankutty, Induchudan's friend
• V. K. Sreeraman as Venu Master
• Irshad as Gopalan, Induchudan's friend
• Maniyanpilla Raju as CI Habeeb, Induchudan's friend
• Narendra Prasad as Mooppil Nair, Ramakrishnan and Anuradha's father
• Sai Kumar as SP Manappally Sudheeran IPS, Nambiar's younger son
• E. A. Rajendran as Ramakrishnan
• Spadikam George as Kalletti Vasudevan
• Mohan Raj as Bhaskaran
• Bheeman Raghu as DYSP Sankaranarayanan, Pavithran's devoted officer
• T. P. Madhavan as Raman Nair, Menon's longtime clerk
• Augustine as Eradi, district Panchayath President
• Kuthiravattam Pappu as Lalu, Indulekha's distant relative
• Reena as Anuradha's mother
• Kollam Ajith as Vasudevan
• Kollam Thulasi as Public Prosecutor Gopinathan
• Jagannatha Varma as Justice Pillai
• Kozhikode Narayanan Nair as Manappally Madhavan Nambiar
• Ponnamma Babu as Jayalakshmi teacher

Cameo Appearances

• Mammootty as Adv. Nandagopal Marar
• Alphonsa as Dancer (special appearance in the Song "Pazhanimala" )

Soundtrack

The film's original soundtrack includes five songs composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan and a total of eight tracks. Lyrics were by Gireesh Puthenchery. The soundtrack album was released by Sargam Speed Audios and later the audio right was acquired by Satyam Audios. The song "Aarodum Onnum" featuring Mohanlal and Aishwarya is not included in the film's home video version.

Release

Narasimham was released on 26 January 2000 on India's Republic Day. It was re-released on 5 December 2014 in Dubai after 15 years. The re-release was part of a special programme organised under the title Narasimham Returns on the occasion of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the film. It premiered at Golden Cinemas, Dubai. The premiere was attended by the major cast and crew of the film and subsequent screenings was received well by public. Later, it was released in Kerala.

In 2016, Narasimham Returns was re-released in seven districts in Kerala. The special screenings was held in Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam, Kannur, Pathanamthitta and Kollam on 26 January 2016.

Box office

The film was released in 32 centres in Kerala. It collected a distributor's share of ₹2 crore (US$240,000) in 35 days from the state. The film completed 200 days in theatres. Producer's profits were estimated at ₹10 crore. Narasimham generated around ₹7 crore for the distributor's share. At the time, the film was the highest-grossing film in Malayalam cinema. The film also created history for screening with maximum number of additional shows for any Malayalam film, which took 16 years to surpass by Premam (2015). It is one of the highest rated films in the television.

The film grossed ₹20 crore (US$2.4 million) at the box office against a budget of ₹2 crore (US$240,000), making it the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, at the time. It ran for more than 200 days in theatres.

Accolades

At the Asianet Film Awards, the film was awarded the Best Film and Shaji Kailas was adjudged the Best Director.

Legacy

Mohanlal's puch dialogue in the film Nee Po Mone Dinesha has become an iconic Malayalam catchphrase. The Mundu worn by Mohanlal in this film, popularly known as Narasimham Mundu, became a fashion trend among youngsters. The film includes five songs composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, of which Dhaankinakka/Pazhanimala and Mohanlal's introduction song attained a high level of popularity. The film was the 1000th acting credit of Jagathy Sreekumar.

PoMoneModi campaign

Two years after being elected as the prime minister, Modi visited the state of Kerala in May 2016, to campaign for the BJP in the 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election. During a campaign rally, Modi gave a speech in which he compared the infant mortality rate of Kerala to that of Somalia Kerala is one of the most religiously heterogeneous states in India, and the Kerala model has consistently been praised as one of the most socially developed states.At the time of his remarks, IMR of Kerala was 10 IMR of Gujarat was 30, the average IMR of India was 34 and Somalia had an average of 137.This IMR of 10 is best in India. As another consequence of Modi's remark, a social media campaign took off, making use of the hashtag PoMoneModi, loosely translating to "Go Back Modi". The hashtag is a reference to the popular punchline "Nee Po Mone Dinesha" from the film Narasimham.

References

1. ^ Anu James (6 December 2014). "Mohanlal-Mammootty Starrer 'Narasimham': 15th Anniversary Celebration in Dubai Gets Grand Response [PHOTOS]". International Business Times. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
2. "Premam is in the air". The Hindu. 6 December 2014. Retrieved 27 October 2019.
3. ^ R. Ayyappan (1 January 2000). "Movies: Sleaze time, folks!". Rediff.com. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
4. ^ IndiaGlitz (23 October 2014). "Narasimham to Return". Indiaglitz.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
5. Webdesk (4 December 2014). "After 15 Years Narasimham Returns-Mohanlal-Ranjith-". onlookersmedia. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
6. "Movie Reviews Adhipathi". Telugucinema.com. 6 September 2002. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2013.
7. "Narasimham (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) by M. G. Radhakrishnan". iTunes. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
8. Akhila Menon (3 December 2014). "Narasimham To Re-release On Dec 5". Filmibeat.com. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
9. Anu James (23 January 2016). "Narasimham returns: Mohanlal starrer to be re-released in 7 theatres on Republic Day". International Business Times. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
10. "Narasimham:Two crore share in 35 days". ImageShack. Vellinakshatram. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012.
11. ^ Ayyappa Prasad (25 August 2000). "Flops galore, soft porn rules in Kerala". Screen. Archived from the original on 13 February 2011.
12. ^ Ayyappa Prasad (27 October 2000). "Action films are his forteasari". Screen India. Archived from the original on 20 December 2010. Retrieved 14 April 2011.
13. Nicy V. P. (25 June 2015). "Box-Office Collection: 'Premam', 'Oru Vadakkan Selfie' Success Makes Nivin Pauly Ultimate Winner of Malayalam Cinema 2015". International Business Times. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
14. G. Krishnakumar (7 June 2015). "Premam is in the air". The Hindu. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
15. "'Narasimham' to celebrate 15 years". Nowrunning.com. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
16. Anu James (27 January 2016). "Mohanlal celebrates 16th anniversary of Narasimham on Pulimurugan sets [PHOTO]". International Business Times. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
17. "rediff.com, Movies: Sleaze time, folks!". m.rediff.com. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
18. Nandagopal Rajan (12 May 2016). "#PoMoneModi: Angry Kerala responds to PM Modi's Somalia comparision [sic]". The Indian Express. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
19. DNA webdesk (13 November 2015). "Watch: When Chris Gayle imitated Mohanlal's famous dialogue!". Daily News and Analysis. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
20. Roktim Rajpal (21 May 2015). "Mohanlal turns 55: 8 performances that prove he is the most bankable, successful star of Indian cinema". News18. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
21. "What does PM Modi get when he compares Kerala to Somalia? A #PoMoneModi trend". 11 May 2016.
22. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1796436
23. Maya, C. (27 October 2021). "At 6, Kerala's single-digit IMR a great achievement". The Hindu.
24. "#PoMoneModi: Angry Kerala responds to PM Modi's Somalia comparision". 12 May 2016.

External links

• Narasimham at IMDb

• 2000 films
• 2000s Malayalam-language films
• Malayalam films remade in other languages
• Films scored by M. G. Radhakrishnan
• Indian action drama films
• Films directed by Shaji Kailas
• 2000 action films
• Films shot in Ottapalam
• Films shot at Varikkasseri Mana
• Aashirvad Cinemas films