''Harikrishnans'' is a 1998 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

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed by Fazil. The film was produced and distributed by Suchitra Mohanlal under the production company

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 ...

, starring

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 ...

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 the title roles.

Juhi Chawla Juhi Chawla (born 13 November 1967) is an Indian actress, film producer and entrepreneur. She established herself as one of the leading actresses of Hindi cinema from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. Recognised for her comic timing and v ...

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

Shamili Shamlee, also known as Baby Shamili/Shamlee, (born 10 July 1987), is an Indian actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam films. Her roles include the mentally challenged child Anjali in the 1990 film '' Anjali'', for which ...

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 ...

, Cochin Haneefa,

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 ...

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.Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the Kun ...

play the supporting cast. The film received a great pre-release hype due to the combined screen presence of Mohanlal and Mammootty, and was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year. It was later dubbed into Tamil with the same name. The film initially had two endings when released, where the heroine chose Mammootty in one version, and Mohanlal in the other one. This was an attempt by the filmmakers to satisfy the fanbases of both Mammootty and Mohanlal, who were each popular in different regions of Kerala. However, only the Mohanlal version was submitted to the

Central Board of Film Certification The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory film-certification body in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India. It is tasked with "regulating the public exhibition of films under the provision ...

(CBFC) for censorship approval, and after both versions were released in theatres, the board sent a notice to the producer warning that it would take legal action, unless the ending with Mammootty, which had not been certified, was withdrawn. The producers were embroiled in legal actions after that, but the gimmick helped the film to bring in millions of rupees. This was an upturn for the Malayalam film industry, which had been generating unsuccessful films for quite some time.

Plot

The Harikrishnans are of the most famous lawyer duos in India. To avoid confusion one is called as Hari (

Mammooty 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 films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, H ...

) and the other as Krishnan (

). They head the organization called Harikrishnan Associates, which consists of around 300 lawyers. They get engaged in a murder case of Guptan (

Rajiv Menon Rajiv Menon (born 20 April 1963) is an Indian filmmaker who has worked as a director and cinematographer in several Indian regional film industries. After making his breakthrough as a film cinematographer with Mani Ratnam's drama ''Bombay'' (19 ...

), who was allegedly killed by a deaf and dumb woodcutter, Gabriel (

VK Sreeraman Vettiyattil Krishnan Sreeraman (born 6 February 1953) is an Indian actor, writer, TV anchor and social worker. Personal life and education He was born into a middle-class family at Cheruvathani village near Kunnamkulam, situated in Thrissur di ...

). Gabriel is a friend of Hari's sister (

) and Harikrishnans become the defence lawyers upon her request. The Harikrishnans begin an investigation and come across Meera (

), a friend of Guptan. Both of them fall in love with her. After some trouble over the matter, they rediscover their friendship and get involved in the case again. They discover that Guptan actually died due to poisoning by his relatives who were doctors who wanted to amass his wealth. The culprits are captured and Guptan's elderly father (

) accepts Sudarshanan (

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the Kun ...

), a former student of Guptan, as his son and successor to the property. At the end Meera decides to go for a random method of choosing her lover as she liked both Harikrishnans equally. She tosses with a leaf where the winner would be her friend and the other would marry her. The leaf fell on the name of Hari, and she presumably makes him her friend and Krishan would marry her.

Alternate ending

In the uncensored cut of the film, the leaf fell on Hari's name and she presumably marries him and Krishnan becomes her friend. There was also another ending planned with Shah Rukh Khan. He was proposed to do the role of the lover of Meera. But due to some technical problems it was cancelled.

Cast

as Adv. Harikrishnan / Hari *

as Adv. Harikrishnan / Krishnan *

as Meera *

as Adv. Sundaran *

as Thampuran (Thirumanassu), Guptan's elderly father *

Kunchako Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer. Sometimes referred to as Chackochan, he works in the Malayalam film industry and has acted in more than 90 films in more than two decades. He is a member of the Kunc ...

as Sudarshanan *

as Ammalu, Hari's younger sister and Krishnan's cousin *

as Guptan, Meera's friend *

Cochin Hanifa Muhammed Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010), better known by his stage name Cochin Haneefa, was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on to ...

as Kunjikuttan, Meera's cousin * V. K. Sreeraman as Gabriel, who is both deaf and dumb (gets implicated in Guptan's murder) *

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

as Sudarshanan's friend * Sudheesh as Sudarshanan's Friend *

Poojappura Ravi Raveendran Nair, known by his stage name Poojappura Ravi is an Indian actor, primarily concentrating in Malayalam films doing comedy roles. He was a stage actor and was a part of ''Kalanilyam Drama Vision'', the famous drama institution. He st ...

as Ramabhadran amappan Thampuran's sinister younger cousin *

Venu Nagavalli Venu Nagavally (16 April 1949 – 10 September 2010) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director best known for his work in Malayalam film industry. He has directed 12 films. Son of writer, commentator, and broadcaster Nagavally R. S. Kurup, ...

as Kallurkaatil Vishwambharan, Meera's father *

as Public Prosecutor *

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.Hemanth Ravan Hemanth Ravan or Hemanth G Nag is a male Indian actor who has appeared in Malayalam, Tamil, and Hindi films, including ''Raasaiyya'' (1995), '' Sher-E-Hindustan'' (1998), ''Maanthrikam'' (1995) and ''Sathyameva Jayathe ''Sathyameva Jayathe' ...

as Dr Jaya Kumar, Ramappan's elder son and Guptan's cousin (who murdered Guptan) *

Baburaj Mohammad Sabir Baburaj was an Indian music composer. He is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. Baburaj has rendered music to many evergreen Malayalam film songs. Early years Baburaj was born on 9 March 1929 in Kozhikod ...

as Prem Kumar, Ramappan's younger son and Guptan's cousin (who murdered Guptan) * Reena as Meera's mother *

Sajitha Betti Sajitha Betti is an Indian actress known for her works in Malayalam television serials and films. Biography Sajitha Betti belongs to a community of Urdu-speaking Muslims from Hyderabad. She is married to Shamas. She has two elder brothers and t ...

as Ammalu's friend, Nisha * Saranya Mohan as Ammalu's Friend *

Kanakalatha Kanakalatha (born 24 August 1960) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in the Malayalam cinema. Personal life Kanakalatha was born to parents Parameshwaran Pillai and Chinnamma at Kollam, Kerala. She attended the Government Girls Sch ...

as Ammalu's neighbour * Sankaradi * Krishna Prasad as Sudarshanan's friend *

K.P.A.C. Sunny K. P. A. C. Sunny (1934–2006) was an Indian actor in Malayalam movies. He acted in more than 400 Malayalam films. He occupied the movie industry for four decades. Background Sunny was born as Sunny D'Cruz in Chavara, Kollam on 18 April 1934. ...

as Judge * V.P. Ramachandran as Ammalu's neighbour *

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 ...

as Sasi, Kunjikuttan's driver *

K. P. Ummer Kachinamthoduka Puthiyapurayil Ummer known as K. P. Ummer (Malayalam: കെ.പി. ഉമ്മർ) was an Indian actor from Thekkepuram quarter of Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He was active in the Malayalam cinema from early sixties until late ...

as Sudarshanan's Hostel Warden * Yadu Krishnan as Sudarshanan's friend * Jereesh James as Sudarshanan's friend * Vijayan Peringode as Temple Poojaari at Kovilakkam *

Jose Pellissery Jose Pellissery (1950 – 5 December 2004) was an Indian film and theatre actor. Biography As an actor in Malayalam cinema, he played supporting roles in about 100 films. His 15-year film career included roles in such movies as ''Aadhaaram'', ...

as Jose-paapa, the guard at Ammalu's neighbourhood in Ponoor *

Antony Perumbavoor Malekudy Joseph Antony, better known as Antony Perumbavoor is an Indian film producer, distributor, cinema exhibitor and actor, who works in Malayalam film industry. He began his career as a chauffeur to Mohanlal in 1987 and started appearing ...

as Ambulance driver Antony

Soundtrack

K. J. Yesudas sang his parts in two different voices, to simulate the singing of both the lead actors during the song sequences in the film.

Release

''Harikrishnans'' had multiple climaxes to appease the fan base of the lead actors

and

. This had also caused some controversy. The scene was when Meera (

) chooses one of them to be her friend among both the Harikrishnans. She admires both equally and goes for a selection method which her grandmother taught her, whenever she had to make tough decisions. She sets the method so as to choose her friend; the loser of the toss presumably becoming Mira's lover. One of the climax shots shows Hari (Mammootty) winning the toss and the other one Krishnan (Mohanlal) winning it. However, only the Mohanlal version of the film was submitted to the

(CBFC) and censored on 1 September 1998. Soon after the release, CBFC was quick to send a notice to the producer warning that the board would take legal action unless the uncensored alternate ending (Mammootty version) is removed from the exhibition. As a result, all the prints of Mammootty version was withdrawn from theatres and replaced with the other version.

Critical reception

Usha Gopalakrishnan of ''Indolink.com'' gave the film 2 stars, writing: "The scenes where both Mammooty and Mohanlal compete with each other in courting Juhi are very nicely picturized. Some scenes are even funny. This is a movie that could be watched with the whole family. It is very decent (just as all the other Fazil movies). Wait for the video instead of spending money in the theater."

Box office

The film's budget was and recovered its cost within two weeks. The film collected from first week beating the previous record of '' Aaraam Thampuran'', which was . The film was commercial success.

References

External links

* {{Mohanlal 1990s Malayalam-language films 1990 films Pranavam Arts International films Films scored by Ouseppachan Films directed by Fazil Indian comedy thriller films