''Kanamarayathu'' () is a 1984

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 by

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 ...

and directed by

I. V. Sasi Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (28 March 1947 – 24 October 2017), better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 110 films predominantly in Malayalam, in addition to Tamil and Hindi languages. In 2015, he was awarded the J. ...

. It stars

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 ...

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 Fil ...

Rahman Rahman (Arabic: or ) may refer to: *Rahman, one of the names of God in Islam *Ar-Rahman, the 55th sura of the Qur'an People *Rahman (name), an Arabic male personal name **Short form of Abd al-Rahman *Rahman (actor) (born 1967), Indian actor *Rah ...

Lalu Alex Lalu Alex is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema. In a career spanning four decades, Lalu Alex has acted over 250 movies and is known for his character roles, comic roles and antagonistic roles in Malayalam movie industry. Lalu Alex ...

and Seema. The story was an adaptation of the 1912 novel '' Daddy-Long-Legs'' by

Jean Webster Jean Webster was the pen name of Alice Jane Chandler Webster (July 24, 1876 – June 11, 1916), an American author whose books include '' Daddy-Long-Legs'' and '' Dear Enemy''. Her best-known books feature lively and likeable young female prota ...

. This film won

Kerala State Film Awards The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...

for the Best Story (Padmarajan), Best Music Director (

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer), an Indian music composer from Kerala * Shyam Benegal, Indian film di ...

) and Best Female Singer (

S. Janaki Sistla Janaki (born 23 April 1938) is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is referred to respectfully as "Janaki Amma" and Nightingale of South India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in ...

Plot

Sherly is an orphan who is sponsored by an old man. On his death, the sponsorship is continued by his son Roy, who is a rich businessman. But Sherly does not know about him. She comes to a college in the city where Roy's niece, Mercy is her classmate and she meets Roy still not knowing he is her sponsor. On the other hand, Alex introduces his brother Baby to Roy, and on Roy's advice Baby starts working in his firm. At Mercy's birthday party, Baby meets Sherly and falls in love with her, but her mind has already gone for Roy, still without knowing that he is her sponsor, and she rejects Baby. Later Sherly finds that Roy has no feelings for her, although he is secretly in love with her but does not wish to reveal it because of the age gap between them and also because Baby confuses her by lying to her that Roy and Elsie were in love for a long time and couldn't marry because of Roy's father. Sherly is extremely frustrated at this and in a fit of rage goes to Elsie and lies to her that she is pregnant with Roy's baby. Elsie is shocked at this and goes to his office and scolds him for his irresponsibility but Roy tells her that it was not him. He calls Sherly to his office and shouts at her thinking that she is pregnant with Baby's baby and lied to the doctor that she was pregnant with his baby but she tells him that she was lying to break them up and also to prove her love for him and tells him that she cannot live without him. However, the Mother Superior of the

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

informs Roy that she was going to be sent to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

to learn music and also that she was allowed to become a nun now. And on Mother Superior's advice she decides to become a nun although she doesn't want to and plans to leave to Italy due to her gratitude towards Mother and her sponsor. So as a final meeting she sees Roy and tells him about this and that she cannot see him anymore. She also meets Baby and tells him everything including that she is an orphan and that she is going to be a nun. He, however, still was willing to marry her but she tells him that she is in love with someone else and he did not accept her so she decided to become a nun. He insists her on telling him who he is and she tells him that it is Roy. At this news he goes to Roy's office and shouts at him for what he did. But as a last wish she wants to see her unknown sponsor who has blessed her all her life with what she would have never had. Mother Superior meets Roy and discloses Sherly's wish to meet her sponsor before she leaves for Italy, however he refuses. Mother Superior handles over a letter from Sherly, for the very first time without their censoring and leaves. But just before leaving, Sherly is told that her sponsor will meet her. She rushes down the orphanage corridor to find Roy.

Cast

as Roy Varghese *

as Sherly *

as Alex *

as Baby * Seema as Dr. Elsie George *

Sabitha Anand Sabitha Anand is an Indian actress who has performed in Tamil and Malayalam movies and serials. She was one of the lead actresses in the 1980s. She is the daughter of Jacoob Abdu Rahman Anand, an Indian actor in Malayalam movies during the 1960 ...

as Mercy *

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 Anne, Alex's wife *

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 Roy's mother *

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 ...

as Mother Superior *

Bahadoor Padiyath Kochumoideen Kunjalu (1930 22 May 2000), known by his stage name Bahadoor, was an Indian actor and comedian who, along with Adoor Bhasi, redefined the way in which comedy and funny scenes were perceived in the Malayalam cinema. They ...

as Mathappan

Release

The film was released on 27 July 1984.

Box office

The film was commercial success.

Soundtrack

won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer ( Female ) for the song "''Kasthuriman Kurunne''". The song "''Oru Madhura Kinavin''" was remixed and used in the

Prithviraj Sukumaran Prithviraj Sukumaran (born 16 October 1982) is an Indian actor, director, producer and playback singer primarily working in Malayalam cinema. He has also done Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. He acted in more than 100 films in a variety of rol ...

starring ''

Teja Bhai and Family ''Teja Bhai and Family'' is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film directed by Deepu Karunakaran, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Akhila Sasidharan, and Suraj Venjaramoodu in the lead roles. One of the songs, ''Oru Madhura Kinavin'' ...

'' (2011), sung by

Vijay Yesudas Vijay Yesudas (born 23 March 1979) is an Indian playback singer and actor. He has sung over 1000 film songs. Vijay works predominantly in the South Indian film industry, mostly in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi. He is the son of ...

, whose father had sung the original.

Remake

''Kanamarayathu'' was remade in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as ''

Anokha Rishta ''Anokha Rishta'' is a 1986 Hindi film, directed by prominent Malayalam director I.V. Sasi, written by Rahi Masoom Raza, and starring Rajesh Khanna in the lead, supported by Smita Patil, Sabeeha, Tanuja, Shafi Inamdar, Satish Shah and Karan Sh ...

'' in 1986 starring

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a record ...

and

Smita Patil Smita Patil (17 October 1955 – 13 December 1986) was an Indian actress who worked in films, television series and theatres. She appeared in over 80 Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career that spanned just o ...

References

External links

* {{I. V. Sasi 1984 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Films with screenplays by Padmarajan Malayalam films remade in other languages Films directed by I. V. Sasi Films scored by Shyam (composer) Sexuality and age in fiction