''Kabooliwala'' is a

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

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 b ...

comedy drama film 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 ...

, written and directed by Siddique-Lal, starring

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The film was remade in Tamil as ''

Meesai Madhavan ''Meesai Madhavan'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language film written and directed by S. Ramu. The film stars debutant Ramana, Kutty Radhika of ''Iyarkai'' fame, Ilavarasu and S. V. Thangaraj. The film is produced by S. V. Thangaraj of Uvasree ...

'' (2004).

Plot

The story begins in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

. Unni is the four-year-old son of a Doctor and Sridevi. Unni has two elder sisters. On Unni's fourth birthday the Doctor is late for the celebration; but he gives Unni a

bugle The bugle is one of the simplest brass instruments, normally having no valves or other pitch-altering devices. All pitch control is done by varying the player's embouchure. History The bugle developed from early musical or communication ...

which he likes very much. The same night while they were celebrating Unni's birthday, a Kabooli named Ameer comes to the docto with a child who is suffering from fever. The doctor does not treat the child but asks him to take the child to hospital. He receives a call at midnight that Ameer's son is in critical condition. The doctor rushes to the hospital with his son. Unni is very much attached to the music played by Ameer. Ameer's son Munna dies in the hospital and he kidnaps Unni and flees from Delhi. 20 years later, the story shifts to

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 ...

. Kannaas and Kadalaas, are litter pickers. They stay with Amminiamma and they are in love with her daughters; Chandrika and Ramani. Chandrika steals some valuables from the house where she works as a maid. In order to save them, Kannaas and Kadalaas go to prison. When they return, they find both Chadrika and Ramani are married and move out of the house with sorrow. Munna comes in search of Kannaas and Kadalaas because they went to prison for stealing the bugle. Kannaas and Kadalaas have buried the bugle in a ground and now there is a circus tent around it. While trying to take the bugle out, it is taken by Laila, the daughter of the circus owner. Munna asks for the bugle and she refuses to give it. They fight with each other for the bugle and in the process Munna tries to prove that Laila is having an illicit relation with him. Her father Sahib is furious to know this and he tries to kill Munna. But before that, Munna tells him that he did all this for his bugle and he has no relation with his daughter. Sahib asks Laila to return the bugle. Munna plays the same music which the Kabooli used to play after getting the bugle. All in the circus tent are shocked to hear it and it is revealed that Munna is Sahib's nephew. All in the circus tent accept him wholeheartedly. Munna ignores Laila and she tries to commit suicide. Munna confesses his love for her. While romancing he plays the same music and the doctor who was passing by hears it and he comes with his daughters and sons-in-law and they forcefully take him. Munna tries to leave, but is given sedation and put to sleep. One of the sons-in-law is a police officer and the other is a doctor and they are able to arrest Sahib who comes to release Munna. The doctor shows the photograph of dead Munna and the newspaper articles reporting the kidnap of Unni to the people in the circus tent. Sahib is released under the condition that they would leave the city within 48 hours. Sahib is also furious and says that he will marry off his daughter within 48 hours and his son would curse him for being his father. Kannas and Kadalas come to Munna's house and Sridevi stops them. She requests Kannas and Kadalas not to take her son back to the streets. Kannas and Kadalas reveal about the love between Munna and Laila and also tell Sridevi that Munna would be happy only with Laila. The doctor also decides to leave the city the next morning. Munna sees the door of his bedroom opened. He is successful in getting out of the house through the back door but is shocked to see Sridevi there. She tells him that she was the one who opened all doors for him because she couldn't see him sad. She asks him to run with his Laila. The mother blesses her son and he leaves. But when he reaches the circus tent he is badly beaten up by Sahib and party. Laila is not allowed to leave. Kannas and Kadalas take Munna from there and they help Laila run away with Munna. But Sahib finds them. He tries to kill Munna but couldn't. Six months later Kannas and Kadalas are released from prison and the other street boys tell them that Laila and Munna are getting married that day and all are invited for the marriage. When Kannas and Kadalas and their gang reach for the marriage, they are stopped at the gate. When they try to reach Munna; they are stopped by his relatives. Kannas and Kadalas bid a tearful farewell to Munna telling her that their place is in the streets and they leave. While leaving, they leave a gift with the watchman for Munna. Munna's brothers-in-law stops the watchman and opens the gift and finds it is the same bugle. They throw the bugle away and it falls in front of Kannas and Kadalas. They take the bugle and are sad for a moment. The next moment they put the bugle in their bag where they put waste materials and leave the place.

Cast

as Kannaas *

as Kadalaas *

Vineeth Vineeth Radhakrishnan (born 23 August 1969) is an Indian actor, classical dancer, voice artist and choreographer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. He has also starred in a few Kannada and Bollywood films. He h ...

as Munna/Unni *

Charmila Charmila (born 2 October 1974) is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Apart from movies in Malayalam, she acted in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies. She completed almost 38 films in the Malayalam film industry. Ea ...

as Laila *

M. G. Soman M. G. Soman (28 September 1941 – 12 December 1997) was an Indian actor and former Indian Air Force officer who appeared in Malayalam films. He was one among the leading star actors doing hero roles in Malayalam Cinema during the late 1970s an ...

as Unni's Father *

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, ...

as Sridevi, Unni's mother *

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, Kannad ...

as Sahib, Laila's father *

Zeenath Zeenath A.P is an Indian actress and dubbing artist. She was a prominent supporting actress during the 1990s in Malayalam films. Background Zeenath was born to Abu Achippuram and Fathima in Nilambur, Malappuram district. She had her primary edu ...

as Laila's mother *

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 ...

as Ameer *

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 Amminiamma * Kalpana as Chandrika *

Bindu Panicker Bindu Panicker is an Indian actress who has more than 200 films to her credit. She has played both comedy and character roles in Malayalam cinema. She won the Kerala State Film Award for the best supporting actress in 2001 for Soothradharan. S ...

as Ramani *

Sankaradi Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit. He dominated the ...

as Nayarettan (Teashop Owner) * Janardhanan as Minnal Thomachan *

Machan Varghese M. L. Varghese (1960 – 3 February 2011), popularly known by stage name Machan Varghese, was a Malayalam film actor and mimicry artist. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan (house of arts) and debuted as an actor through ''K ...

(debut) *

Kundara Johny Johny Joseph with the stage name Kundara Johny is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 100 films. He has also done Cinema of Tamil Nadu, Tamil films like ''Vaazhkai Chakram'' and ''Nadigan''. He surprised everyone wit ...

as Unni's brother-in-Law *

Riza Bava Rizabawa (24 September 1966 – 13 September 2021) was an Indian actor who works predomiantly in Malayalam films and television. His breakthrough role was as a villain in the 1990 film ''In Harihar Nagar''. Since then, he acted as villain in s ...

as Unni's brother-in-Law *

Geetha Vijayan Geetha Vijayan (born 22 June 1972) is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam movies, a few Tamil and Hindi movies. She debuted in the 1990 Malayalam comedy- thriller film ''In Harihar Nagar''. She has since acted in more than 150 Malayalam ...

as Geetha * Suma Jayaram as Raji * Manju Satheesh as Dancer in Circus

Music

References

External links

*
''Kabooliwala''
at the Malayalam Movie Database {{Lal Films 1990s Malayalam-language films Malayalam films remade in other languages Films directed by Siddique–Lal