''Classmates'' is a 2006 Indian
Malayalam
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 ...
-language
coming-of-age
Coming of age is a young person's transition from being a child to being an adult. The specific age at which this transition takes place varies between societies, as does the nature of the change. It can be a simple legal convention or can ...
romantic comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
film directed by
Lal Jose
Lal Jose is an Indian director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Direc ...
and written by
James Albert. The film stars
Prithviraj Sukumaran
Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of rol ...
,
Narain
Narayana (Also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from Sanskrit नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity Narayana, another name ...
,
Jayasurya
Jayasurya (born August 1978) is an Indian actor, distributor, Sponsor, Model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist, who works in the Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a N ...
,
Indrajith Sukumaran
Indrajith Sukumaran (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of Prithviraj Sukumaran.
Indrajit ...
and
Kavya Madhavan
Kavya Madhavan (born 19 September 1984) is a former Indian actress, who appeared predominantly in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 1991 as a child artist in '' Pookkalam Varavayi''. Her debut role as a lead actress was in Lal Jose's '' ...
with
Jagathy Sreekumar
Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...
,
Balachandra Menon
Balachandra Menon ( ml, ബാലചന്ദ്ര മേനോൻ) (born 11 January 1954) is an Indian actor, director and script writer. He made a number of films in the Malayalam films of the 1980s, 1980s and Malayalam films of the 1990s, ...
and
Radhika
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
in supporting roles.
Alex Paul
Alex Paul is an Indian music director who works in Malayalam cinema.
Personal life
Alex is the son of A. M. Paul, a music artist who formed the first orchestra (in Malayalam: 'ganamela') troupe in Kochi & Philomina. He is the younger brother ...
composed film's music while
Rajeev Ravi
Rajeev Ravi is an Indian cinematographer, director, and producer from Kochi, Kerala. He's best known for his work in Hindi and Malayalam films.
After graduating from Film and Television Institute of India, Pune in 1997, he started his career ...
handled the cinematography. The story revolves around the college graduate class of 1991. In 2006, working in different corners of the world, the friends get together for a
class reunion to revive the joy and laughter of their student days. On the night of the reunion, one of the classmates is almost murdered and goes into a coma.
The film was released on 25 August 2006 to positive reviews from critics and became the
highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2006. It is considered by many critics as one of the best campus based films in Malayalam. The film developed a
cult
In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
following in the years after its release and is frequently referenced in popular Keralite culture. With the release of film, the concept of alumni meetings started trending in
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
, and schools and colleges started organising such get togethers to help the ex-students keep in touch with each other. The film is now regarded as a
classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...
in
Malayalam cinema
Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...
.
The film went on to win the
Kerala State Film Award
The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...
s for
Best Popular Film (Prakash Damodaran and P. K. Muralidharan) and
Best Story (James Albert). It was later remade into
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
as
''Ninaithale Inikkum'' starring Prithviraj himself, and in
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
and
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
as
''Classmates'' (2007) and
''Classmates'' (2015), respectively.
Plot
The film centres on a group of classmates who attended the same Chemistry class in their final year of college. Among them, Murali (
Narain
Narayana (Also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from Sanskrit नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity Narayana, another name ...
) is a singer and P. Sukumaran alias Suku (
Prithviraj) is a firebrand leader of the left-winged students union. Pious (
Indrajith), a rich and spoiled brat of parents settled in
Gulf
A gulf is a large inlet from the ocean into the landmass, typically with a narrower opening than a bay, but that is not observable in all geographic areas so named. The term gulf was traditionally used for large highly-indented navigable bodie ...
, is the campus Romeo and Sukumaran's best friend. Suku's rival Satheeshan (
Jayasurya
Jayasurya (born August 1978) is an Indian actor, distributor, Sponsor, Model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist, who works in the Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a N ...
) leads the opposite faction of student politics and is aided by his sidekick Valu Vasu (Vijeesh). Thara Kurup (
Kavya Madhavan
Kavya Madhavan (born 19 September 1984) is a former Indian actress, who appeared predominantly in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 1991 as a child artist in '' Pookkalam Varavayi''. Her debut role as a lead actress was in Lal Jose's '' ...
) is the daughter of the
Member of the state Legislative Assembly (MLA) from
Muvattupuzha
Muvattupuzha () is a town in the midlands directly to the east of Kochi in Ernakulam district, Kerala, India. It is located about from downtown Kochi, and is a growing urban centre in central Kerala. The town is also the starting poin ...
; she is a dancer who regularly wins awards for the college with her performances.
It was Murali's dream to have a reunion, but he mysteriously dies before the reunion can be organised. His parents, Iyer (
Balachandra Menon
Balachandra Menon ( ml, ബാലചന്ദ്ര മേനോൻ) (born 11 January 1954) is an Indian actor, director and script writer. He made a number of films in the Malayalam films of the 1980s, 1980s and Malayalam films of the 1990s, ...
) and Lakshmi (
Shobha Mohan
Shobha Mohan is an Indian actress known for her works, predominantly in Malayalam cinema along with few Tamil films.
Biography
Shobha Mohan was born to actor Kottarakara Sreedharan Nair and Vijayalakshmi at Kottarakkara in Kollam, Kerala. She ...
), both teachers at the college, decide to fulfill their deceased son's dream and bring his classmates together for a reunion. After 15 years, Sukumaran is now a diamond dealer based in
Mumbai
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- ...
, a rich and successful businessman earning in crores and is a divorcee. Satheesan is now an
MLA, following his dreams to become a minister, while Vasu continues to be his sidekick. Pious is now settled in the
Middle East
The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...
. Thara, while still unmarried, becomes a dancer and runs a dancing school.
The coming together of these classmates is the occasion for them to relive the past and to fulfil Murali's dream. When all are together, Raziya (
Radhika
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
) arrives. But during the occasion, Suku attempts suicide, but later many of them suspects that it was not a suicide. Pious reveals Suku's flashback to Iyer in the hospital.
When Satheeshan finds out that Suku and Thara are in love, he plans to separate them. He made her stand against Suku in an election in their college. On the day of the voting for the election, Satheeshan steals a letter that Thara wrote for Suku with Vasu's help and keeps it in the ballet box. Pious sees this. Angrily, Suku and his friends hit Satheeshan and his friends. Due to the fight, the vote counting gets postponed to the next day, and Principal Geevarghese calls the police and tells them to stay there. That night, Pious and Suku plan to take Thara's letter from the principal's room, but the plan fails. The next day, Thara's letter gets exposed. Satheeshan tells everyone including Thara that Suku misused her letter. Suku loses his mind, hits Satheeshan again, and tries to kill him. When he was going to kill him, a girl tells him that Murali is dead in the generator room of the hostel.
After Murali's funeral, Suku decides to discontinue his studies as he could not face the way that Thara was insulted. He goes to Mumbai and meets his neighbor Hameed, who introduces him to a diamond dealer named Shantharam. Suku becomes Shantharam's trusted man, and Shantharam helps Suku get his mother's illness treated and his sisters married. Shantharam got Suku married to his daughter Ratna, who was in love with a criminal. After Shantharam's death, Suku and Ratna got divorced and she went with her boyfriend. Pious reveals that Thara had some motive when she came there. Iyer goes to Thara and tells that she might have met him and to reveal the rest. Thara tells that she came to apologize for her mistakes to Suku. Thara reveals that when her parents discontinued her studies and decided to join a dance institute in Madras, she realized that few of her certificates are with Suku. She goes to Suku's house with Satheeshan to take them. After she takes the certificates and leaves, Suku's mother talks bad about him and curses him. Satheeshan gets emotional when he hears this as she told bad about him not about Suku. Thara gets angry when his mother tells him that. She thinks he cheated her and his family. Satheeshan then tells her that Suku discontinued his studies because of him and he was the one who put Thara's letter in the ballot box. She gets shocked. Mani Nair, who organized her first dance program, was in Mumbai and was Shantharam's family friend. He told Thara about Suku's marriage and divorce.
During the get-together, Thara called Suku to the generator room and they both reconciled. Iyer finds out that Raziya was there in the generator room when there was Suku and Thara. He called Raziya without asking anything and he knew that she had a few problems in the college. She took TC from the college and went which he did not know, but now he realizes that it had a link with Suku's and Thara's love. She tells him that she was in love with Murali. Her father finds about their love and discontinued her studies. But she tells Murali to come tonight to the generator room and to take her to their dreams in a letter and keeps it a book in the library. She waited a long time but did not see him and thought Murali cheated her. The next morning, she found him dead in the generator room. She did not know that he came before her and he died near her. Raziya gets shocked and becomes mad. Looking at her state, her father gets heartbroken and dies. Her relatives abandoned her as she got mad. She was alone in her home.
When Iyer called Raziya for the get-together, she was too happy and she thought to recremize the place where she and Murali was. During that time when she saw Suku and Thara reconciling, she felt her lost love. She also hears Suku revealing to Thara that on the day when Suku and Pious went to take Thara's letter, he hid in the generator room and somebody was there. He attacked the person and thought of making him unconscious with chloroform as he was Satheeshan's goon, but later he realizes that it was Murali and felt bad when he killed his friend. Raziya didn't realize that that he killed Murali by accident, and she strangles Suku with a string on Murali's guitar as a revenge for ruining her life. Pious calls Iyer and tells that Suku has gained consciousness. Iyer tells Pious that Raziya did it and Suku should not say her name to the police. But the police has already came to Suku's statement. Suku tells that he tried to commit suicide to the police. Suku apologies to Iyer for killing Murali and tells Iyer to kill him as he does not want to live with Raziya's and their curses. Iyer forgives him and tells that God has given a short life.
In the end, Suku moves to Mumbai while all greet him while he feels Murali too greeting him.
Cast
*
Prithviraj Sukumaran
Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of rol ...
as P. Sukumaran Suku
*
Narain
Narayana (Also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from Sanskrit नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity Narayana, another name ...
as Murali Iyer
*
Jayasurya
Jayasurya (born August 1978) is an Indian actor, distributor, Sponsor, Model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist, who works in the Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a N ...
as Satheeshan Kanjikuzhi
MLA
*
Indrajith Sukumaran
Indrajith Sukumaran (born 17 December 1978) is an Indian actor and singer. He predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Indrajith was born to the actors Sukumaran and Mallika Sukumaran and is the elder brother of Prithviraj Sukumaran.
Indrajit ...
as Pious George PG
*
Kavya Madhavan
Kavya Madhavan (born 19 September 1984) is a former Indian actress, who appeared predominantly in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 1991 as a child artist in '' Pookkalam Varavayi''. Her debut role as a lead actress was in Lal Jose's '' ...
as Thara Kurup
*
Radhika
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
as Raziya
*
Balachandra Menon
Balachandra Menon ( ml, ബാലചന്ദ്ര മേനോൻ) (born 11 January 1954) is an Indian actor, director and script writer. He made a number of films in the Malayalam films of the 1980s, 1980s and Malayalam films of the 1990s, ...
as Professor Iyer (College Lecturer/Murali's father)
*
Shobha Mohan
Shobha Mohan is an Indian actress known for her works, predominantly in Malayalam cinema along with few Tamil films.
Biography
Shobha Mohan was born to actor Kottarakara Sreedharan Nair and Vijayalakshmi at Kottarakkara in Kollam, Kerala. She ...
as Lakshmi (College Lecturer/Murali's mother)
*
Jagathy Sreekumar
Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...
as Fr. Esthappaan (College Lecturer/Men's Hostel Warden)
*Vijeesh as Vasu Sadashivan/Vaalu Vasu
*
Anoop Chandran
Anoop Chandran is an Indian actor and comedian who appears in Malayalam films. He was a contestant in the reality show '' Bigg Boss Malayalam Season 1'' in 2018.
Career
Mostly appeared in comic roles, he is best known for his roles in ''Classm ...
as 'Pazhanthuni' Koshi
*J Pallassery as Fr. Geevarghese (College Principal)
*
Suraj Venjaramood as Ousepp
*
V. K. Sreeraman as Kunju Muhammad, Raziya's father
*
Sukumari
Sukumari Amma (6 October 1940 – 26 March 2013) was an Indian actress best known for her works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning more than five decades, She has appeared in more than 2500 films predominantly in Malayalam, Tam ...
as Janaki, Sukumaran's mother
*Suja Menon as Bindu Balachandran
*
Anil Murali
Anil Murali (12 April 1964 – 30 July 2020) was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 200 films. He started out in the film industry as a villain before later taking on character roles. He died on 30 July 2020, as a re ...
as SI Sudheer
*Renjusha Menon as Kavitha
*Soorya J Menon as Aiswarya
*Shajahan Rdx as Rahman
*Lekshmi Viswanath as Mariya
Reception
The film was a box office success. It broke many box office records and spawned a whole new genre of college-based films in the
Malayalam film industry
Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, '' Elippathayam ...
. The film completed 150 days run in
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...
and 100 days in
Kottayam
Kottayam () is a municipal town in the Indian state of Kerala. Flanked by the Western Ghats on the east and the Vembanad Lake and paddy fields of Kuttanad on the west. It is the district headquarters of Kottayam district, located in south-we ...
and
Ernakulam
Ernakulam () is the Central Business District of the city of Kochi in Kerala, India and has lent its name to the Ernakulam district. Many major establishments, including the Kerala High Court, the office of the Kochi Municipal Corporation a ...
as well. The film went on to gross and became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time.
Remakes
''Classmates'' has been remade in Tamil as ''
Ninaithale Inikkum'', with
Prithviraj playing the lead again. Narain is replaced by Shakthi Vasu and Kavya is replaced by Priyamani.
A Telugu remake titled
''Classmates'', with
Sumanth
Sumanth Kumar Yarlagadda (born 9 February 1975), known mononymously as Sumanth, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He is the eldest grandson of Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao. He is also a partner in Annapurna Stud ...
and
Sadha
Sadaf Mohammed Sayed, also known by her stage name Sadha, is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada films. She was introduced to the Telugu film industry by the director Teja along with Nithiin in the film '' Jayam ...
playing the lead roles, released in 2007. In 2015 it was remade in Marathi as ''
Classmates
A classmate is a student who is member of the same class, in any of its meanings (a course, a lesson, a graduating year).
Classmate(s) may also refer to:
* ''Classmates'' (1914 film), a 1914 silent film produced by the Biograph Company
* ''Clas ...
''.
Awards
*
Radhika
Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...
: Best Supporting Actress in
Amrita Films Awards 2006
*
James Albert: Best Scriptwriter in
Asianet Asianet may refer to:
Disney Star channels
*Asianet Communications, an Indian media company wholly owned by Disney Star
**Asianet (TV channel), a Malayalam language general entertainment channel
**Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertai ...
film awards
* James Albert:
Kerala State Film Award for Best Story
The Kerala State Film Award for Best Story is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Award of India to a writer for the best story in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Departme ...
*
Kerala State Film Award
The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...
for Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value.
*
Vineeth Sreenivasan
Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor an ...
: Best Male
Playback singer
A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...
.
* Asianet Film Award for Best Film
Soundtrack
The songs were written by
Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma
Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma (born 12 February 1960) is a noted malayalam lyricist and poet. He is the son of Malayalam Popular poet and lyricist late Vayalar Ramavarma. He made his debut in the malayalam film industry through the 1990 malayalam ...
and composed by
Alex Paul
Alex Paul is an Indian music director who works in Malayalam cinema.
Personal life
Alex is the son of A. M. Paul, a music artist who formed the first orchestra (in Malayalam: 'ganamela') troupe in Kochi & Philomina. He is the younger brother ...
. The Orginal Song From Ente Khalbile Was The Favourite.
References
External links
*
Film Reviewat ''
Gulf News
''Gulf News'' is a daily English language newspaper published from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It was first launched in 1978, and is currently distributed throughout the UAE and also in other Persian Gulf Countries. Its online edition was launch ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Classmates (2006 film)
2000s Malayalam-language films
Malayalam films remade in other languages
Films directed by Lal Jose
Indian buddy films
Indian mystery films