''Nandi Veendum Varika'' () is a 1986

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

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 ...

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

film produced by M. Sunil Kumar under SS Movie Production, directed by

P. G. Viswambharan Plamthottathil Gangadharan Viswambharan (1947 – 16 June 2010) was an Indian film director who worked in Malayalam cinema. Viswambharan directed 63 Malayalam films, in a career spanning close to four decades. Career For a decade, P. G. Vi ...

and written jointly by

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 comi ...

and

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such as ' ...

. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

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 ...

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 acti ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

in the lead roles. The cinematography was handled by Vipin Mohan. The film features original songs and score composed by

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 ...

. The film revolves around Mohandas C. K. (

), a teacher who on being forced by his father (

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 ...

) joins the police force as a

Sub-inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police, is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which is primarily based on the British model. It was formerly used in most British col ...

. However, he is reluctant to become a police officer as he is scared and cowardly in nature. He gets his first posting in an village were corruption is rampant. The plot explores how he overcomes his cowardly nature and brings the corrupt Ananthan Nair (

) to justice. The film was shot extensively in and around

Ottasekharamangalam Ottasekharamangalam is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. Demographics India census, Ottasekharamangalam had a population of 19,345 with 9,322 males and 10,023 females. Religions Hinduism, Christianity, ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

district.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

was done in 1-1.5 months. The film was released on 12 September 1986 on the occasion of

Onam Onam ( ) is an annual Indian harvest festival celebrated predominantly by the Hindus of Kerala. A major annual event for Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events. Onam commemorates Vamana ...

and was a commercial failure. The film was among the few commercially unsuccessful films in which Mammootty had starred in that year. However, the film has over the years acquired a

cult following A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...

. The film was later remade into Tamil as ''

Kavalukku Kettikaran ''Kavalukku Kettikaran'' is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by Santhana Bharathi and written by M. Karunanidhi, starring Prabhu and Nirosha. It is a remake of 1986 the Malayalam film ''Nandi Veendum Varika''. The film was released ...

''.

Plot

Mohandas is the son of Chathukutty, a police constable, who dreams of making him a sub-inspector of police. Mohandas, however, is happy as a teacher in a tutorial college, and does not wish to take up the job as he is a coward by nature. He tries to fail the written exam for SI selection, but his father uses his influence to get him selected and then emotionally blackmails him to join. After finishing his training, he joins a police station in a village where Ananthan Nair is a de facto king. Ananthan Nair owns all the big businesses and is a close friend of the police big wigs, with whose help he indulges in a number of nefarious activities including bootlegging. He also exploits the poor farmers in the region. When Balan opposes his actions, he gets Balan beaten up by his goons, and rapes Balan's wife, who subsequently commits suicide. When Mohandas arrives to take charge at the local police station, he initially sides with Ananthan Nair due to his cowardice. With the help of Damodaran, another school teacher, he overcomes his fear and proceeds to help the population and take action against Ananthan Nair.

Cast

as Mohandas C. K. *

as Balan *

as Devayani *

as Ananthan Nair *

as Damodharan *

as Chathukutty *

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 Madhavi *

Adoor Bhasi K. Bhaskaran Nair (1 March 1929 – 29 March 1990), known by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director from Kerala. Adoor Bhasi was almost always cast as the man who stands next to the hero. His hilarious actions and role ...

as Vishnu Nampoothiri *

Kuthiravattam Pappu Padmadalakshan, better known by his stage name Kuthiravattam Pappu (24 December 1936 – 25 February 2000), was a popular Indian stage and film actor. His repertoire of acting was based on his unique style and use of the ''Kozhikodan'' dialect, i ...

as Mukundan *

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 sta ...

as Mathachan *

Jagannatha Varma K. N. Jagannatha Varma (1 May 1939 – 20 December 2016) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam film and television industry. He was also a Kathakali artist. His son Manu Varma is also an artist and his son-in-law Viji Thampi is a film dire ...

Thodupuzha Vasanthi Thodupuzha Vasanthi was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. She appeared in over 450 movies and also in 16 tele-serials and 100 plays. She was a theater artist, before starting with small roles in movies. Her first full length ...

as Ananthan Nair's wife *

K. P. A. C. Azeez Azeez (27 November 1934 – 16 July 2003) was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 100 films. He came into the movie industry as a villain, later he started doing character roles, such as police officer, jailer, and ministe ...

as Right hand of Ananthan Nair *

Uma Bharani Uma Bharani is an Indian actress who acts prominently in Tamil and Malayalam films. After acting only in few films, she then started acting in Tamil serials. She is now a dubbing artist in Tamil movies and serials. Her mother was T. R. Latha, w ...

as Balan's wife

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were written by Chunakkara Ramankutty.

Reception

The film was a commercial failure.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0271665 1986 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Films directed by P. G. Viswambharan Malayalam films remade in other languages