''Asuravamsam'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''The Demon Lineage'') is a 1997

Malayalam-language Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

action drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

written by

Ranjith Ranjit or Renjith may refer to: Religion * Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam (born 1966), Sri Lankan Tamil Catholic priest, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Colombo * Malcolm Ranjith (born 1947), Sri Lankan Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, C ...

and directed by

Shaji Kailas Shaji Kailas (born 8 February 1965) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Malayalam cinema. Shaji got a breakthrough with the comedy film ''Dr. Pasupathy'' (1990). He is best known for his action films with mainl ...

, with cinematography by

V. Manikandan V. Manikandan is a leading cinematographer who works as the cinematographer for a number of major box office hits in Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam. He is an ad film cinematographer with more than 3000 ad films to his credit. He won the Best Cin ...

. The film stars Manoj K. Jayan, Siddique,

Biju Menon Biju Menon (born 9 September 1970) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil cinema, Tamil and Telugu cinema, Telugu film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film ''Puthran''. In a car ...

Narendra Prasad Raghava Kurup Narendra Prasad (26 December 1946 3 November 2003) was an Indian actor, playwright, director, teacher and literary critic. He was born at Mavelikkara in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Appreciated for his body language and ...

, Sai Kumar,

Priya Raman Priya Raman (born 18 June 1974) is an Indian actress and television producer. She has appeared in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada cinema and in television serials of Malayalam and Tamil languages. Her first film was the Rajnikanth-produced ...

and Chippy.

Plot

''Palayam'' Murukan is an

underworld The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underworld. ...

gangster ruling Palayam market in

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second la ...

, who hails from an aristocratic family and enjoys a good academic background, but unknownigly gets into the crime world during his college days. He was expelled from his house by his sister after he was arrested for a murder. In alliance with

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Swamy and assisted by the muscle power of his trusted henchman ''Dosth'' Vishwan, Murukan becomes the most powerful person of the city. His activities include mediating land contracts, arranging hartals for political parties and murdering for a cause. On the personal side, he enjoys a deep rooted friendship with Dosth, and also sponsors his adopted sister on her medical studies and is loved by the people of Palayam market. Things take a turn when Murukan clashes with Swamy over a land contract. Murukan backs ''Moosa'' Settu while Swamy supports the syndicate of Hussain Haji and Thattel brothers: Mani and Bobby. Mayor arranges the murder of Moosa Settu. Nandita Menon, a young

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

also joins with them against Murukan, though she is unaware of their motive. The syndicate manages to bring a new

city commissioner City commission government is a form of local government in the United States. In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically of five to seven members, typically on a plurality-at-large voting basis. These commissione ...

for the city to tackle Murukan. Jayamohan, who is known for his aggressive and arrogant ways of tackling crime gets into a direct fight with Murukan, where he creates many problems in the Palayam market, and arrests each and every one belonging to Murukan's gang, thus making Murukan try for violent retaliations, but Jayamohan, who discovers the soft side of Murukan, decides to turn him into a law-abiding citizen. Swamy and his group gets upset by this move. Nandita Menon also makes a truce with Murukan. Swami kills Dosth, which causes Murukan again to take law into his hands, where he finishes the crime syndicate by killing Swamy, Hussein Haji and Thaletti Brothers.

Trivia

*This was the second script by Ranjith for Shaji Kailas after ''

Rudraksham ''Rudraksham'' (Malayalam: രുദ്രാക്ഷം) is a 1994 action Malayalam film starring Suresh Gopi, Annie and Devan. Written by Ranjith and directed by Shaji Kailas. This film was criticized for extreme violence. Plot Due to his ...

''. *This was also the first Malayalam film of cinematographer

. *

Kuthiravattam Pappu Padmadalakshan, better known by his stage name Kuthiravattam Pappu (24 December 1936 – 25 February 2000), was a popular Indian stage and film actor. His repertoire of acting was based on his unique style and use of the ''Kozhikodan'' dialect, i ...

appears in a song. *This film was shot in just 27 days at a budget of 78 lakhs and was completely shot in and around Kozhikode.

Cast

* Manoj K. Jayan as Palayam Murukan * Siddique as Dosth Viswanathan *

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

Jayamohan

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

* Sai Kumar as Bobby *

as Mayor Swami *

as Nanditha Menon * Chippy *

Rizabawa Rizabawa (24 September 1966 – 13 September 2021) was an Indian actor who works predomiantly in Malayalam films and television. His breakthrough role was as a villain in the 1990 film ''In Harihar Nagar''. Since then, he acted as villain in s ...

as Hussain Haji *

Ilavarasi Ilavarasi is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam Kannada and Hindi cinema. She was one of the prominent lead actresses from 1982 to 1992. Her popular lead roles are ''vatsalyam'' along with Mammootty and Visu' s ''S ...

as Gayathri * C. I. Paul as Mani *

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 ...

Mamukkoya Mamukkoya (born 5 July 1946) is an Indian actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema, and has also appeared in French film ''Flammens of Paradise''. He has mostly appeared in comedic roles. His unique usage of the Mappila dialect and style ma ...

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berbers, Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia (Roman pr ...

Maniyanpilla Raju Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam:മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.Circle Inspector Gazetted officers include all the Indian Police Service officers which are Class I officers of the cadre and all State Police Services (India), State Police Services officers of and above the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. All are arrang ...

Rajan P. Dev Rajan P. Dev (20 May 1951 – 29 July 2009) was an Indian film and stage actor. He was born in Cherthala in the Alappuzha district of the former state Thiru-Kochi (present day Kerala). He had acted in over 500 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu ...

as Moosa Settu *

Madhupal Madhupal Kannambathu is an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. Madhupal made his acting debut with ''Kashmeeram'' in 1994 and his directorial debut with ''Thalappavu'' (2008), which was about Naxal Varghese an ...

as Moosa Settu's son *

Sadiq Sadiq is a male name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Ja'far al-Sadiq, the 8th-century Muslim scholar and scientist, considered as an Imam and founder of the Ja'fari school of jurisprudence by Twelver and Isma'ili Shi’as, and a major fi ...

Sub Inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police, is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which is primarily based on the British model. It was formerly used in most British col ...

Ajith Kollam Ajith Kollam (7 April 1962 – 5 April 2018) was an Indian actor, who predominantly appeared in Malayalam cinema. He had acted in more than 500 films in all South Indian languages. He mainly acted in villain roles. He acted in the Tamil movie ...

Bindu Panicker Bindu Panicker is an Indian actress who has more than 200 films to her credit. She has played both comedy and character roles in Malayalam cinema. She won the Kerala State Film Award for the best supporting actress in 2001 for Soothradharan. S ...

Kunjandi Kunjandi ( ml, കുഞ്ഞാണ്ടി; 1919–2002) was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 50 films. He handled character roles as well as supporting roles. Background Kunjandi was born at Calicut. His first ...

Valsala Menon Valsala Menon (born 1945) is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam films. She has acted in over 200+ films. Currently she is active in Malayalam television serials. Early life Valsala Menon was born in 1945 to Raman Menon and Devakiyamma in ...

Kozhikode Narayanan Nair Kozhikode Narayanan Nair is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema, who has acted in more than 300 films. He entered the "Malayalam" movie industry (Mollywood) through a drama troupe. His first film was ''Aabhijathyam'' (1970), and he is also reme ...

Kollam Thulasi Kollam Kanjaveli Kuttilazhikathu Thulasidharan Nair is an actor in Malayalam cinema, who is better known as Kollam Thulasi relating to the name of his birthplace Kollam to his first name as customary in some parts of Kerala. His first appearance ...

Lalithasree Lalithasree (born 30 October 1957) is an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in more than 450 films. She acts mainly in supporting roles. She is known for her comedy roles with Jagathy Sreekumar. Personal ...

External links

* {{Ranjith 1997 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Films directed by Shaji Kailas Films shot in Kozhikode Films set in Kerala