''Bharatham'' 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 musical

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film written by

A. K. Lohithadas Ambazhathil Karunakaran Lohithadas (10 May 1955 – 28 June 2009) was an Indian screenwriter, playwright, film maker, and producer who worked in the Malayalam film industry. In a career spanning over two decades, his films have won a National ...

and directed by

Sibi Malayil Sibi (Sindhi: سيوي ur, ) is a city situated in the Balochistan province of Pakistan. The city is the headquarters of the district and tehsil of the same name. Etymology The origin of the town's name is attributed to Rani Sewi, a Hindu lad ...

. 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 ...

Urvashi Urvashi ( sa, उर्वशी, Urvaśī}) is the most prominent apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology, considered to be the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert dancer. She is mentioned in both ''Vedic'' and ''Puranic'' scr ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

, and Murali. The film was produced by Mohanlal through his production house

Pranavam Arts Pranavam Arts International (formerly Pranavam Arts or Pranavams International) was an Indian film production and distribution company based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, founded in 1990 by Indian actor Mohanlal. Since then the company has pro ...

. The film features original songs 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 ...

and a background score 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 ...

. ''Bharatham'' is interpreted as a modern-day adaptation of the

Ramayana The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...

from

Bharatha Bharatha People (, ) also known as Bharatakula and Paravar, is an ethnicity in the island of Sri Lanka. Earlier considered a caste of the Sri Lankan Tamils, they got classified as separate ethnic group in the 2001 census. They are descendant o ...

's perspective. How, in the absence of his elder brother, Gopinathan takes the responsibility of the family and hides his griefs is the core of the story. The film was a critical and commercial success, running for 125 days in theatres. ''Bharatham'' is also noted for its music that is largely Carnatic classical and semi-classical. The film won three National Film Awards— Best Actor for Mohanlal, Best Male Playback Singer for K. J. Yesudas for the song "Rama Katha Ganalayam", and Special Mention for Raveendran's music, and five Kerala State Film Awards. On the centenary of Indian cinema in 2013, '' Forbes India'' included Mohanlal's performance in the film on its list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". It was remade in Tamil as '' Seenu'' by

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam language films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 64 films.

in 2000.

Plot

Kalloor Gopinathan alias Gopi is a member of a happy family with

carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is ...

heritage and he himself is a good singer. Kalloor Ramanathan who is also an excellent singer, is Gopi's elder brother,

guru Guru ( sa, गुरु, IAST: ''guru;'' Pali'': garu'') is a Sanskrit term for a "mentor, guide, expert, or master" of certain knowledge or field. In pan-Indian traditions, a guru is more than a teacher: traditionally, the guru is a reverential ...

and role model. Ramanathan is married to Ramani and has a son Appu. Gopi is in love with Devi who is the sister of Ramani. Raman reigns in the family and in the society with his music. But he turns into alcoholism. Despite several attempts by family members to make him give up the habit and several failed assurances to his family members, he is unable to give up the habit. Raman reaches for a concert in an inebriated state and Gopi is forced to take over. He is an instant hit with the masses. This has been depicted quite symbolically during the song ''Sree Vinayagam''. Gopi's music, which was hidden behind his brother's charisma now flows out in full strength. Taking this as an insult, Raman starts hating his brother and strives hard to recover from alcoholism. His morale is shattered when organizers of the ''Tyagaraja Aaradhana'' select his brother over him to perform. This makes Raman angry. So Gopi decides to stop singing. But on hearing this Raman understands his mistake and asks Gopi to sing at ''Tyagaraja Aaradhana''. Ramanathan attends his brother's concert in a drunken state but is able to appreciate his brother's talent. In the middle of the concert, he enters the stage, removes his ancestral necklace and puts it on Gopi as a mark of continuation of his legacy. He then walks away into the horizon. With a longing to get rid of the alcoholism and perform a concert with his brother, he sets on a pilgrimage, but was never to return. Gopi, learning that Raman died in an accident, is forced to conceal the truth because of their vocally disabled sister's marriage. Gopi gets lot of moral support with Devi, who also knows the truth. Gopi's

trauma Trauma most often refers to: * Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source * Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic i ...

reaches penultimate when his family learns of Raman's death and that Gopi was concealing it. Everything ends fine when the family understands his intentions. The movie ends while Gopi begins to train Appu in their musical legacy.

Cast

as Kalloor "Gopi" Gopinathan *

as Kalloor "Raman" Ramanathan *

as Devi *

as Ramani * Murali as Harikumar *

Vineeth Kumar Vineeth Kumar is an Indian actor and director in Malayalam cinema. He came into the industry as child artist in the 1988 movie ''Padippura''. His directorial debut ''Ayal Njanalla'' was released in 2015. Early life Vineeth Kumar was born in ...

as Appu * Suchitra Murali as Radha *

Kaviyoor Ponnamma Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing cred ...

as Devaki *

Oduvil Unnikrishnan Oduvil Unnikrishnan (13 February 1943 – 27 May 2006) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam cinema. He has portrayed supporting roles in both dramatic and comedic roles.The HindMalayalam film actor Oduvil Unnikrishnan dead He is a four- ...

as Unnimama * K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Madhavi *

Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair (16 October 191611 March 1997) was an Indian poet, playwright, script writer, lyricist, orator, film director and actor, though he is best known as an actor in Malayalam cinema. He is the recipient of Padma Shri fr ...

as Grandfather * Kunjan as Kuttan *

Bobby Kottarakkara Bobby Kottarakkara (11 March 1952 – 3 December 2000) was an Indian actor who acted in Malayalam films. He was born to Pareedkunju Ravuthar in Kottarakkara. He began his acting career on stage. He made his film debut with Mucheettukalikkaara ...

as Kunjunni * Lalu Alex as Vijayan * M. S. Thripunithura as Janardhanan Nair * Subair *

Biyon Byon V. K. (born 17 June 1982), professionally credited as Biyn, is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. T ...

as Young Gopinathan

Soundtrack

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

while the acclaimed songs were composed by

with lyrics were penned by

Kaithapram 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 K ...

. All the songs of this movie were instant hits.

Awards

;

39th National Film Awards The 39th National Film Awards, presented by Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1991. Ceremony took place in 19 ...

* Best Actor -

* Best Male Playback Singer - Dr. K. J. Yesudas for '' Ramakadha Gaanalayam'' * Special Mention -

; Kerala State Film Awards * Best Actor - Mohanlal * Second Best Film - Mohanlal (as producer) *

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

* Best Music Director - Raveendran * Special Jury Award -

; Filmfare Awards South * Best Director (Malayalam) -

Siby Malayil Siby may refer to: * Siby (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Siby, Mali, a village and rural commune in the Cercle of Kati, Koulikoro Region, Mali * Siby Department, a commune of Balé Province, Burkina ...

* Best Music Director (Malayalam) - Raveendran ;

Kerala Film Critics Award The Kerala Film Critics Association Awards are presented annually by the Kerala Film Critics Association to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Malayalam language film industry of India. The awards were instit ...

* Best Actor - Mohanlal * Best Screenplay -

* Best Music Director - Raveendran * Best Cinematography - Anandakuttan

References

External links

* {{A. K. Lohithadas 1991 films 1990s musical drama films 1990s Malayalam-language films Films scored by Raveendran Films featuring a Best Actor National Award-winning performance Malayalam films remade in other languages Pranavam Arts International films Films directed by Sibi Malayil Films with screenplays by A. K. Lohithadas Indian musical drama films Films about classical music and musicians 1991 drama films