''Guru Dakshina'' is a 1983 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

family drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...

movie written and directed by

Baby An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

. The film stars

Adoor Bhasi K. Bhaskaran Nair (1 March 1929 – 29 March 1990), known by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director from Kerala. Adoor Bhasi was almost always cast as the man who stands next to the hero. His hilarious actions and role ...

T. G. Ravi T. G. Ravindranathan (born 16 May 1944), popularly known as T. G. Ravi, is an Indian actor, mainly noted for his roles as a villain in Malayalam cinema. He along with Balan K. Nair played most of the negative roles in Malayalam cinema during t ...

, Sathish Menon and Sunanda in important roles. The film also has

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

Ratheesh Ratheesh (1954–2002) was an Indian actor best known for his work in Malayalam cinema. He was a native of Kalavoor in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. He performed villainous roles during the 1990s. He had acted in 158 films with dire ...

and

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 appeare ...

in supporting roles. The songs of the movie were composed by

K. J. Joy KJ Joy is a music director for the Malayalam film industry. He has composed music for 71 films. He began his career as music director in 1974, after many years as recording accordion artist for various music directors, primarily his mentor M. ...

. The film was a remake of the Tamil film ''Engal Vathiyar'' released in 1980.

Plot

Kunjunni is the school teacher in a village. His daughter Lakshmi falls in love with Ragunath who is the son of Panchayat President, Keshavan Nair. Keshavan asks for a dowry of fifty thousand to be raised in a month for the marriage to happen. Kunjunni who is in utter poverty has no way to raise this huge amount. Kunjunni goes to see some of his old students who could help him raise this amount. He initially goes to Majeed who is presently a police inspector. He couldn't give Kunjunni more than two thousand as his wife need to undergo a surgery the next month. Kunjunni then goes to meet Prabhakaran, who is currently the Excise Minister of the State. He welcomes Kunjunni very warmly just to get more media attention. Even though he assures Kunjunni the help, he sends him back with hundred rupees. On the way back he meets his old student John who is presently a goon. Even though he gives the amount to Kunjunni he refuses it. Kunjunni returns to the village with all hopes in vain. Without the knowledge of Kunjunni, John threatens Keshavan and forces him for this marriage without accepting any dowry. Keshavan says about his change in plans to Kunjunni. Kunjunni very happily makes all arrangements for the marriage. Two days before the marriage, Keshavan gets information about John and gives the information to Majeed. He then goes to Kunjunni's house and says that the marriage won't happen until he raised the fifty thousand. On the day of the marriage Kunjunni asks Pappu to marry Lakshmi. Ragunath then comes there and asks forgiveness for all that his father did and said he would marry her. Knowing this Keshan too arrives there and demands for the dowry. Unbearable of all these pressure Lakshmi faints down to

Nilavilakku Nilavilakku is a traditional lamp used commonly in Kerala as well as in Tamil nadu (called Kuthuvillakku). The traditional lamps which is lit during every auspicious occasions; in temples before the worship starts; at the official and unofficial f ...

and dies.

Cast

as Kunjunni Mash *

as John *

as Inspector Majeed *

as Excise Minister Prabhakaran *

as Keshavan Nair, the panchayat president * Sathish Menon as Ragunath, Keshavan's son * Sunanda as Lakshmi, Kunjunni's daughter *

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 Parvathy, Kunjunni's wife *

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 ...

as Pappu *

Meena Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the sta ...

as Keshavan's wife * Anuradha as Susheela *

Unni Mary Unni Mary (born 12 March 1962) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Malayalam films. She has also worked in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films, where she had used the screen name Deepa. Personal life Unnimary was born to Augustine Fernandes a ...

as Reetha, John's wife *

C. I. Paul C. I. Paul (1944 – 14 December 2005) was a Malayalam film and television actor. He was a member of the working party led by Fr. Vadakkan and came to acting through the famous dramas by V. L. Jose. He was well appreciated for his perform ...

as Susheela's boss *

Santhakumari Santha Kumari (born Vellaala Subbamma; 17 May 1920 – 16 January 2006) was an Indian musical artist and actress. She was married to the Telugu film director and producer P. Pullayya. Early years Vellaala Subbamma was born in Proddatur town, ...

as the hostel warden *

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 ...

as Madhavan (

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

)

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were written by

Poovachal Khader Poovachal Khader (25 December 1948 – 22 June 2021) was a Malayalam lyricist from Kerala who worked mainly in Malayalam film industry. His first movie as a lyricist was ''Kaattuvithachavan'' (1973) but his first released movie was ''Chuzhi'' ( ...

References

External links

* 1983 films 1983 drama films 1980s Malayalam-language films Indian family films Indian drama films Films about Indian weddings Films directed by Baby (director) Films scored by K. J. Joy Malayalam remakes of Tamil films Films shot in Kerala {{1980s-Malayalam-film-stub