''Innale'' () is a 1990

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 wa ...

-language

psychological drama Psychological drama or psychodrama is a sub-genre of drama that places emphasis on psychological elements. It often overlaps with other genres such as crime, fantasy, black comedy, and science fiction, and it is closely related with the psychologic ...

film written and directed by

P. Padmarajan P. Padmarajan (23 May 1945 – 23 January 1991) was an Indian film maker, screenwriter and author who was known for his works in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. He was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, a ...

. The film was produced by A. B. R Productions. The film stars

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his act ...

Jayaram Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam,Tamil cinema, Tamil films, along with a few Telugu cinema, Telugu films. He is also a chend ...

Shobhana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fi ...

, and

Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...

in lead roles. The film features original songs composed by

Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath () is an Indian musician from Kerala. He is well known as a carnatic musician as well as a composer. He lives in Thiruvananthapuram now, though hails from Perumbavoor, Ernakulam. His works always have the deep-rooted ...

while 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 ...

was composed by

Mohan Sithara Mohan Sithara is an Indian music composer. He received the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Music Director (2009) for the songs in Priyanandan's ''Soofi Paranja Kadha''. Since 1986 he has been an active musician in the Malayalam film indust ...

. Cinematography was handled by

Venu The ''venu'' (Sanskrit: ; /मुरळि; ''muraļi'') is one of the ancient transverse flutes of Indian classical music. It is an aerophone typically made from bamboo, that is a side blown wind instrument. It continues to be in use in the ...

. In the film, a girl (

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fi ...

), is found as an injured victim of a bus accident and has suffered memory loss and is unable to remember herself and her past life. She then, falls in love with Mr. Sharath Menon ( Jayram), who helps her cope with her new life. However, things get troublesome when people from her previous life come searching for her. ''Innale'' was released in theatres on 4 May 1990 to highly positive reviews. The film was a commercial success and went on to become one of the highest grossing Malayalam films of the year. The film won The Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director (Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath), The Filmfare award for the Best Actress (Shobana) and The Film Critics Award for Best Script (P. Padmarajan). Noted director Ranjith recognizes the film as one of his favorite films. Suresh Gopi's role as Dr. Narendran was critically acclaimed and is considered one of the finest and most memorable performances in his career.

Plot

A girl (Shobhana), is found as an injured victim of a bus accident, during her travel to religious places throughout India. She is taken to a hospital in a hill station, where the doctor declares that she has amnesia due to the accident, and has forgotten herself and her past. She forgets her larger past and starts to move with courage, towards her new-found self, after struggling within herself, asking questions. She also meets malicious people who claim to be her well-wishers, taking advantage of her

vulnerability Vulnerability refers to "the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally." A window of vulnerability (WOV) is a time frame within which defensive measures are diminished, com ...

. She fights them with the help of the brave Mr. Sharath Menon (Jayaram), who protects her during the transition to become the new Maya (a new name christened by Sharath). Dr. Sandhya (Srividya) who treated her, is also Sharath's mother. She too comforts her and allows her to become Maya. Though she does worry about what is to follow. Sandhya decides to meet anyone who claim to be Maya's family, so that she could help her out. Sharath brings actors to make Dr. Sandhya believe that Maya has parents, to get his mother's consent to marry Maya, with whom he has deeply fallen in love with. Sandhya has no other choice than to leave the young lovers to their own fate. Meanwhile, Dr. Narendran (Suresh Gopi), who is a scientist by profession working in the US, starts to search for his lost wife, Gauri. After much searching with all his friends and resources, he finally gets information about a girl who was an accident victim on a hill station. He calls Sandhya during her birthday party, where the doctor also announces the engagement of Maya with her son, Sharath. Sandhya is shocked and informs her son about Dr. Narendran's phone call. Narendran reminiscences memories of the beautiful days spent with his lovely wife Gauri. The three main characters meet where Narendran becomes speechless after his wife talks to him like a complete stranger. He decides that she has indeed become a new person and it would be unfair to bring her more sorrow by revealing the truth that she is his wife. Sharath happily asks whether she was the person he is looking for, to which Narendran answers no, by only shaking his head. He understands that Sharath and Maya are deeply in love with each other and leaves in haste, never showing Sarath his wedding photos with Gauri, that he was carrying with him. The last scene shows the bewildered Maya and Sharath staring at him, leaving so abruptly, without drinking the tea she made.

Cast

as Dr. Narendran *

as Maya / Gauri (Voice by Bhagyalekshmi) *

as Sarath Menon *

as Dr. Sandhya *

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 Azhagappan *

T. P. Madhavan T. P. Madhavan (born 7 November 1935) is an Indian actor who appeared in Malayalam films. He started acting at the age of 40. He has acted in more than 600 films. He came into the film industry playing villain roles; later he started doing com ...

Captain Raju Raju Daniel (27 June 1950 – 17 September 2018), better known by his stage name Captain Raju, was an Indian army officer and Indian actor. He acted in more than 600 films in various languages, including Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kan ...

as Circle Inspector Satheeshan *

Philomina Philomina (1926 – 2 January 2006) was an Indian actress, who worked in the Malayalam film industry. She acted in more than 750 films in her career. She played mostly character and comedy roles, besides that of mother and grandmother. She sta ...

as Rahelamma *

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 relatio ...

as Shankarapillai * K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Soshamma *

Sreenath Sreenath (26 August 1956 – 23 April 2010) was an Indian film and television actor. He has acted in many Malayalam films, including '' Shalini Ente Koottukari'', '' Ithu Njangalude Katha'', '' Oru CBI Diary Kurippu'', and '' Kireedam''. Sre ...

as Dr.Gafoor *

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 from ...

* K. P. A. C. Sunny *

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

as Sudheer, Hospital Attender

Soundtrack

The songs featured in the film were composed by

. The

was composed by

. The film won The Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director.

Reception

Critical Reception

In a retrospect review Praveen Palakkazh of '' FilmCompanion'' states that "The character of the husband, Narendran, is played by a pre-superstar Suresh Gopi, and here he shows the genius restraint he has in his performances that do not play to his loud superstar aura. It is in fact this character who haunts me the most in this film." He further states that "''Innale'' is not even one of my favourite Padmarajan works, and yet the feeling and thoughtfulness that even a part of it evokes is a reflection of the work of a master. What would someone like Padmarajan have made of the current generation of brave and beautiful filmmaking that is happening in the Malayalam industry? Would he have gone on to make even better masterpieces than the ones we already savour? Would he have provided succour with his movies during the barren period of creativity in the late nineties and early noughties? Of course, we will never know. Meanwhile, let’s keep enjoying the classics he did leave us with."

Box Office

The film was a commercial success and was one of the biggest hits in Padmaranjan's career. It was one of the highest grossers of the year.

Accolades

The film has won numerous accolades, namely:

References

External links

* {{Padmarajan 1990 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Films scored by Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath Films about amnesia Films shot in Karnataka Films with screenplays by Padmarajan Films directed by Padmarajan