''Abhimanyu'' is a 1991 Indian
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...
-language
crime drama film
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
directed by
Priyadarshan
Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in ...
and written by
T. Damodaran. It stars
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...
,
Geetha, and
Shankar Shankar may refer to:
People
* Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name
* Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer
* L. Shankar, Indian violinist
*S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar
* San ...
. The plot revolves around the
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
(now Mumbai) underworld and the transformation of an innocent guy into a
crime boss in the city. The tagline of the movie is ''Crime Never Pays''.
The Fim Got A Certificate from Censorboard.The film was a commercial success at the box office. The film is noted for its screenplay, direction and background score. Mohanlal won the
Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for best performance in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Depart ...
. Its Tamil dubbed version ''Arasan'' was also a box office success. The movie was later dubbed and released in
Hindi
Hindi ( Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been ...
as ''Satyaghath - Crime Never Pays''. It was remade in Tamil as ''
Thalai Nagaram
''Thalai Nagaram'' () is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language action crime film written and directed by Suraj and produced by V. Ravichandran. The film stars Sundar C and Jyothirmayi, while Vadivelu, Prakash Raj, Bose Venkat, Judo. K. K. Rathnam, and ...
'' (2006), Telugu as ''
Nagaram''(2008) and in Kannada as ''
Devru
''Devru'' ( kn, ದೇವ್ರು) is a 2009 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Sadhu Kokila, starring Duniya Vijay and Pragna in lead roles. The film is a remake of the Malayalam film '' Abhimanyu'' (1991).
Cast
* Duniya Vijay as Devru ...
'' (2009). Art direction was by
Thotta Tharani
Thota Tharani is an Indian film art director and production designer who has predominantly worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam cinema and Bollywood. As of 2013, he has won two National Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South and four T ...
.
Plot
Harikrishnan is an immigrant in
Mumbai
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...
, who, like many thousands of immigrants, is struggling to make ends meet. He shares a room with a group of Malayali guys, who have their personal problems and difficulties. The film begins with Harikrishnan witnessing the murder of a journalist, and being asked by police to appear at an identification parade, which he does. Hari and his friends stay at a room in Kamathipura, which also homes the largest red lighted area in India. He accidentally meets Kiran, a Telugu girl in the brothel, for whom he develops feelings. In a short attempt to make money, Hari and friends start making local hooch, which is supplied by Manikandan, their friend, who is also a taxi driver. One of the friends, Shekhar, falls in love with the sister of Mani, without the knowledge of anyone else.
On a fine morning, Mudaliar, the Tamilian don, who was ruling the street is shot dead by Abbas Ali, his own henchman, who has shifted his loyalty to Amar Bakia, another cold blooded don. With the death of Mudaliar, Amar Bakia becomes the undisputed don of the city, and Abbas Ali, his lieutenant. Abbas, after coming to know about the small scale smuggling activities of Hari and gang, threatens him and asks him to come and meet him on the day of Vinayak Chathurthi and pay him a large amount as fine.
In midst of the celebration, Hari enters the house of Abbas Ali and shoots him down, inviting the enmity of Amar Bakhia. Chotta Shankar, a local goon belonging to Bakhia gang, attacks Hari, but Hari beats them up mercilessly. He is soon arrested by the police and beaten up in the cell by the inspector and Bakhia, in an attempt to make him confess for the murder of Abbas. Assuming that he is dead, they throw him into the street. He is discovered alive and saved by the lady owner of a brothel and she along with Kiran takes care of him. With this incident Hari becomes the local leader and within a short span Chotta and others join his gang. Hari, thus becomes Hari Anna, who also becomes a negotiator in land disputes, financial matters and local business stiffs.
Amar Bakhia is now in serious efforts to end the gang of Hari, but Hari on the other hand is getting stronger day by day. Shekhar, now gets a job at a Marwari business group and ditches the sister of Mani. She, who is pregnant by then, commits suicide. Mani, shocked by this incident, is unaware of Shekar's involvement with his sister and indirect cause of her suicide. Hari decides to marry Kiran and with the help of his friends plan to start up a new life outside Mumbai. Amar Bakhia orchestrates attacks on Hari and his gang, leaving many of Hari's friends dead. Hari plots revenge and executes those responsible including Amar, and prepares to escape with Kiran.
Meanwhile, Mani gets a letter written by his sister to Hari, which makes him believe that it's Hari who is responsible for the death of his sister. Mani informs police about Hari's plan to leave Mumbai by the night. While parting, Hari informs Mani about Shekhar and expresses regret for not being able to save her. On realizing the truth, Mani reveals the ambush plans and asks Hari to escape before police reaches the spot. But it is too late by then, as police surround him and shoot him down.
Cast
*
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...
as Harikrishnan / Hari Anna
*
Shankar Shankar may refer to:
People
* Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name
* Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer
* L. Shankar, Indian violinist
*S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar
* San ...
as Shekhar
*
Geetha as Kiran
*
Cochin Haneefa as Chotta Shankar
*
Jagadish
P. V. Jagadish Kumar (born 12 June 1955) known mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, television presenter and former politician. He has starred in over 375 Malayalam films and 2 Hindi films. He is best known for his com ...
as Manikandan/Mani
*
Mahesh Anand
Mahesh Anand (13 August 1961 – 9 February 2019) was an Indian actor, dancer and martial artist who worked in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is remembered for playing villainous roles in Hindi films. He was a black belt in ...
as Amar Bakhia
*
Rami Reddy as Abbas Ali
*
Poornam Viswanathan
Poornam Viswanathan (15 November 1921 – 1 October 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He started performing on stage at age 18. He worked as a reader for All India Radio and went on to act in films such as ''C ...
as Mudaliar
*
K. B. Ganesh Kumar
Keezhoote Balakrishna Pillai Ganesh Kumar (born 25 May 1966) is an Indian actor, television host, and politician. Ganesh Kumar is a proposed cabinet minister for the last 2.5 years in the ongoing 2nd LDF govt in Kerala and he is also the curre ...
as Gopalakrishnan
*
Sukumari as Kalyani, Mani's and Radha's mother
*
Nandhu
Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s '' Spirit'', di ...
*
Manjula Vijayakumar
Manjula Vijayakumar (4 July 195423 July 2013) was an Indian actress. She acted in more than 100 films in South Indian languages like Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Personal life
She and actor Vijayakumar got married in 1976. The couple ...
as Madam of the brothel
*
Suchitra Murali as Radha, Mani's younger sister
Box office
The film collected a gross of ₹83 lakhs from 25 centres when it completed 25 days run, as per
Mathrubhumi
''Mathrubhumi'' is a Malayalam newspaper that is published from Kerala, India. It was founded by K. P. Kesava Menon, an active volunteer in the Indian freedom struggle against the British. The word "Mathrubhumi" translates to 'mother land'. ...
daily, which was a record at that time and finally the film declared as a hit at box office .
Music
The
film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...
was composed by
Johnson
Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...
while the original songs featured in the film were by composed by
Raveendran
Madhavan Raveendran ( ml, മാധവൻ രവീന്ദ്രൻ ), (born Kulathupuzha, Kollam, 9 November 1943 – died Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 3 March 2005), fondly known as ''Raveendran Master'', was a popular South Indian music composer a ...
with lyrics were penned by
Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri
Padma Shri Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, popularly known as Kaithapram, is a Malayalam lyricist, poet, music director, actor, singer, screenwriter, music therapist and performer of Carnatic music. He debuted with the movie Ennennum Kannet ...
.
Welcome harimuraleeravam.info - Hostmonster.com
/ref> This consisted of 5 songs:
Awards
; Kerala State Film Awards
* Best Actor - Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically app ...
* Best Editor - N. Gopalakrishnan
* Best Sound Editor - Deepan Chetterji
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abhimanyu (1991 Film)
1990s Malayalam-language films
1991 films
Films with screenplays by T. Damodaran
Indian gangster films
Films directed by Priyadarshan
Films about organised crime in India
Fictional portrayals of the Maharashtra Police
Films shot in Mumbai
Films scored by Raveendran
Malayalam films remade in other languages