''Kalippattam'' (English: ''Toy'') is a 1993

Malayalam film Malayalam cinema is an Indian cinema, 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, ...

written and directed by

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

and starring

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 ...

Urvashi Urvashi ( sa, उर्वशी, Urvaśī}) is the most prominent apsara (celestial nymph) in Hindu mythology, considered to be the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert dancer. She is mentioned in both ''Vedic'' and ''Puranic'' s ...

Thilakan Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...

Kaviyoor Ponnamma Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing cred ...

Jagathy Jagathy ( ml, ജഗതി) is a place within the city of Thiruvananthapuram in the state of Kerala, India. It lends its name to the city ward of which it is a part. It is famous for being the home of veteran Malayalam actor Jagathy Sreekumar ...

and

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 ...

. Mohanlal also sang a song ("Vazhiyoram") with

Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963), always credited as K. S. Chithra or Chithra, is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning over four decades, she has recorded over 25,000 songs in various I ...

for the film. The story is about the love between a violinist played by Mohanlal and a terminally ill girl played by Urvashi. The music and background score were composed by

Raveendran Madhavan Raveendran ( ml, മാധവൻ രവീന്ദ്രൻ ), (born Kulathupuzha, Kollam, 9 November 1943 – died Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 3 March 2005), fondly known as ''Raveendran Master'', was a popular South Indian music composer an ...

Plot

In the first scene, we are shown an old man named Venu (Mohanlal) who came with flowers to strew his lady's grave. The story is narrated through his memories. Venu was an educated young man who worked for a wealthy businessman Menon (Thilakan) at his tea plantation. After being fired, he tried to get his job back by playing music for Menon's only daughter, Sarojam (Urvashi) Sarojam eventually falls in love with Venu and expresses her wish to marry him. Wanting to keep her unawares about her fatal condition,

aplastic anaemia Aplastic anemia is a cancer in which the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers. Blood cells are produced in the bone marrow by stem cells that reside there. Aplastic anemia causes a deficiency of all blood cell types: red blood c ...

, Menon was ready to do anything for her. Menon tells Venu about the illness and asks him whether he was ready for the marriage. Menon offers him all the wealth and the complete authority of his family business. Venu, whose family is in a dire state, accepts the offer and marries Sarojam. Initially, he pretended to love her as he felt sympathetic for her and wanted to make her happy always. However, gradually he falls in true love with her and an inseparable relation blossoms between them. Sarojam gives birth to a daughter, Ammu. When Ammu is a few years old, Sarojam develops severe symptoms of the disease. Dr. Menon (Soman) suggests that bone marrow transplant may lead to a recovery in her. After the bone marrow transplant, Sarojam seem to recover but soon her condition worsens and she dies in the hands of Venu. Then we are shown the first scene, which was Venu standing aside Sarojam's grave. After a while, Unni, a close friend of Venu comes there to inform him that his daughter Ammu is also affected with the same disease. Venu is shocked but he was not allowed to cry even as Ammu should never know about this. The heartbroken Venu returns to his bungalow with Ammu. There he has a strange visitor named Hari (

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 ...

), an unemployed young man, who comes there with a recommendation letter for a job. Soon, Venu realizes that, what has happened in his and Sarojam's life is getting repeated in his daughter's life too, through Hari. He allows Hari to stay there and in the last scene, Venu calls Hari to his room, in the same way as he was called by Menon for Sarojam's proposal.

Cast

as Venugopal G. *

as Sarojam (Saro), Venu's wife *Deepti Pillay Sivan as Venugopal's daughter *

as K. MK. Menon, Sarojam's father *

as Thakaraparambil Unnikrishnan, Venu's friend *

as Sarojam's mother *

as Freddy Uncle, Menon's friend *

K. R. Vijaya Deivanayaki better known by her stage name K. R. Vijaya is an Indian actress who has featured in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada films. She started her career in 1963 and has been acting for more than five decades in South Indian cinema. ...

as Kalyani (Doctor) * Siddique as N. N. Kutty, Venu's friend *

Mamukkoya Mamukkoya (born 5 July 1946) is an Indian actor known for his work in Malayalam cinema, and has also appeared in French film ''Flammens of Paradise''. He has mostly appeared in comedic roles. His unique usage of the Mappila dialect and style ma ...

as Ismail, Venu's friend * Prem Kumar as Lambodharan, security guard *

K. P. A. C. Lalitha Maheshwari Amma, better known by her stage name K. P. A. C. Lalitha, was an Indian film and stage actress who worked primarily in Malyalam. She started her acting career with K. P. A. C., a theatre collective in Kayamkulam, Kerala. In a caree ...

as Venu's mother * Kalpana as Meenakshi (Meenu), Venu's younger sister *

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 Sreekumari, Venu's younger sister *

Aranmula Ponnamma Aranmula Ponnamma (8 April 1914 – 21 February 2011) was a National Award winning Indian actress known for her roles as mother of the protagonist in numerous films in a career spanning over five decades. She is widely described as a mother ...

as Venu's grandmother *

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 t ...

as Venu's grandfather *

Ganesh Kumar Keezhoote Balakrishna Pillai Ganesh Kumar (born 25 May 1966) is an Indian actor, television host, and politician. Ganesh Kumar is a proposed cabinet minister for the last 2.5 years in the ongoing 2nd LDF govt in Kerala and he is also the curre ...

as Renji, Menon's relative *

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

as Chandran, Renji's friend *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s ''Spirit'', dir ...

as Remanan, the horse cart driver *

Oduvil Unnikrishnan Oduvil Unnikrishnan (13 February 1943 – 27 May 2006) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam cinema. He has portrayed supporting roles in both dramatic and comedic roles.The HindMalayalam film actor Oduvil Unnikrishnan dead He is a four- ...

as Karunan aka Ottappalam Chittappan *

Soman Soman (or GD, EA 1210, Zoman, PFMP, A-255, systematic name: ''O''-pinacolyl methylphosphonofluoridate) is an extremely toxic chemical substance. It is a nerve agent, interfering with normal functioning of the mammalian nervous system by inhibiti ...

as Dr. Warrier *

as Harikrishnan *

N. L. Balakrishnan Narayanan Lakshmi Balakrishnan (born Velayudhan) (17 April 1942 – 25 December 2014), commonly known as N. L. Balakrishnan, was an Indian film still photographer and actor who worked in Malayalam cinema. He worked as a still photographer in a ...

as Santhosh, Watchman *Aliyar as Ravi *

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 ...

as Madhavan

Soundtrack

The song lyrics were penned by Konniyoor Bhaas with

composing tunes for the same. # "Mozhiyazhakum" -

K J Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian people, Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Music of Indi ...

, K S Chithra # "Konchi,Konchi" - M G Sreekumar # "Vazhiyoram" -

, K S Chithra # "Kalipattamayi" - K J Yesudas

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0292040
''Kalippattam''
at the Malayalam Movie Database 1993 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Films directed by Venu Nagavally Films scored by Raveendran