''Neelathamara'' () is a 2009 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
romantic drama film
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion (emotion), passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typica ...
written by
M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...
and directed by
Lal Jose
Lal Jose is an Indian director
Director may refer to:
Literature
* ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine
* ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker
* ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty
Music
* Direc ...
. It is the
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of the
1979 film of the same name, scripted by M.T. himself and directed by
Yusuf Ali Kechery
Yusufali Kechery (Yūsaphali Kēccēri; യൂസഫലി കേച്ചേരി 16 May 1934 – 21 March 2015) was a poet, film lyricist, film producer and director from Kerala, India. He wrote during the modern era of Malayalam poetry and ...
.
[P. M]
‘Neelathamara' blooms again
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
. Retrieved 30 November 2009 The film was produced by Suresh Kumar under the banner of
Revathy Kalamandhir
Revathy Kalamandhir is an Indian film production company based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It was founded in 1993 by producer G. Suresh Kumar. The company is run by Suresh Kumar and his wife actress Menaka. They have produced more than 15 f ...
. It stars
Kailash
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of ...
and newcomers,
Archana Kavi
Archana Jose Kavi (born 4 January 1990) is an Indian actress, YouTuber and a television host. She made her acting debut in film '' Neelathaamara'' (2009) scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Lal Jose.
Early life
Archana was born ...
&
Amala Paul
Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Telugu cinema, Telugu films. She made her acting debut by appearing in a supporting role in the Malayalam-language ...
in the lead roles. The film received good reviews and was a box-office hit.
[Neelathamara is turning out to be a hit!](_blank)
''TNN''. Times of India
''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...
. Retrieved 4 December 2009
Plot
Beena, a program producer with NDTV 24x7, is in her ancestral village for a television program. She wants her fiancé Anand to meet her grandmother, who has just been discharged from the hospital. Beena, the daughter of K.P. Haridas, who died a few years back, is not in good terms with her mother Ratnam over her second marriage. Ratnam happens to visit the house at the same time. There she meets Kunjimalu, a middle-age lady who was once a housemaid in her teenage days. Kuttimalu is welcomed by grandmother with the same warmth that she enjoyed long back, and she says that her daughters are now well settled and are leading a happy lives. Ratnam is also affectionate towards Kunjimalu, who had once had an affair with Haridas.
In the night, while arranging the old books of Haridas, Ratnam comes across the snaps of Kunjimalu, which he had taken in his college days. She hands them over to Kunjimalu, which takes her back to the old days. The story switches to the late 1970s, when Kunjimalu had arrived as a maid with Appukuttan, her cousin and her grandmother. Kunjimalu succeeds in winning the heart of Haridas's mother in no time. She was an innocent village girl who always found fun in sharing secrets with Ammini, a girl of her age.
Ammini informs her about the myth of Neelathamara (blue lotus). According to believers, if they offer a one rupee note at the temple pond and prays deeply to the god, the flower will blossom the next morning and his/her wish will turn into truth. The arrival of Haridas, a final-year law student, adds more color to her life. He succeeds in alluring Kunjimalu in a short span, and they start to have a romantic and physical relationship. Kunjimalu believes that Haridas really loves her but she fails to understand that it was just fun that Haridas is looking for. Her prayer at the river pond results in blossoming of Neelathamara, which takes her to cloud nine. But news of the engagement of Haridas to Ratnam comes in as a shock, which breaks her down mentally. She slowly realizes that Haridas was never serious in his affair with her and tries to overcome the grief by silently serving Ratnam, his new wife. Ratnam one day learns of the affair and, when asked, Haridas replies casually, which makes her go berserk. Ratnam orders Kunjimalu to leave the house' she accepts silently. She is taken home by Appukuttan, whom she married.
Years later, Haridas is no more and both ladies have matured. The film ends with Kunjimalu once again with full heart preparing to take care of the
octogenarian
Ageing ( BE) or aging ( AE) is the process of becoming older. The term refers mainly to humans, many other animals, and fungi
A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorgani ...
mother of Haridas.
Cast
*
Archana Kavi
Archana Jose Kavi (born 4 January 1990) is an Indian actress, YouTuber and a television host. She made her acting debut in film '' Neelathaamara'' (2009) scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Lal Jose.
Early life
Archana was born ...
as Kunjimalu (Old Film - Ambika)
*
Kailash
Mount Kailash (also Kailasa; ''Kangrinboqê'' or ''Gang Rinpoche''; Tibetan: གངས་རིན་པོ་ཆེ; ; sa, कैलास, ), is a mountain in the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region of China. It has an altitude of ...
as Haridas (Old Film - Ravi Kumar)
*
Samvrutha Sunil
Samvritha Sunil (born 31 October 1986) is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 2004 through the film ''Rasikan'' directed by Lal Jose before which she had also appeared as a junior artist in the film '' Ayal ...
as Rathnam (Old Film - Bhavani)
*
Amala Paul
Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Telugu cinema, Telugu films. She made her acting debut by appearing in a supporting role in the Malayalam-language ...
as Beena
* Tony Kattukaran as Anand
*
Rima Kallingal
Rima Kallingal is an Indian actress and film producer who mainly appears in Malayalam films. She made her Malayalam film debut with '' Ritu'' (2009). She married to the Malayalam film director Aashiq Abu in 2013.
Early Life and Career
Born in Th ...
as Shaarathe Ammini (Old Film - Jayaragini)
*
Sreedevi Unni
Sreedevi Unni is an Indian Mohiniyattam, Mohiniyattam dancer and actress best known for her work in the Malayalam cinema and TV serials. She is the mother of Monisha Unni.
Filmography
TV serials
Albums
* Ammakkayi
* Thilodakam
TV Show ...
as Maluamma (Old Film - Santha Devi)
* Suresh Nair as Appukuttan (Old Film - Sathar)
* Joy Mathai as Achuthan Nair (Old Film - Bahadoor)
*
Jaya Menon
''Ritu'' ( en, Seasons) is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Shyamaprasad. The original screenplay was written by Joshua Newtonn. It was the first time Shyamaprasad made a film based on an original screenplay, all of his prev ...
as Elder Rethnam
*
Parvathi T.
Parvathi T., also known as Maala Parvathi, is an Indian actress, who appears in Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu films
Personal life
Parvathi was born in Thiruvananthapuram, to Adv C. V. Thrivikraman and gynaecologist Dr K. Lalitha. She complete ...
as Elder Kunjimalu
*
Mullanezhi
Mullanezhi Neelakandan Namboothiri (1948–2011), popularly known as Mullanezhi, was a Malayalam poet, playwright, lyricist and actor from Thrissur in Kerala state of India. He was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award twice: in 1995 for ...
as the old man sitting under the banyan tree
Production
*''Neelathamara'', though was announced as a remake of the old film with the same name, had several changes. While the old film was a love story between Kunjimalu and Haridas, the remake focused more on the contemporary lives of both Ratnam and Kunjimalu.
M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...
himself re-worked on the script.
*This film had mostly newcomers, which was more like an experiment by Lal Jose.
*The camera work by Vijay Ulaganath was well appreciated.
*The performance of
Archana Kavi
Archana Jose Kavi (born 4 January 1990) is an Indian actress, YouTuber and a television host. She made her acting debut in film '' Neelathaamara'' (2009) scripted by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and directed by Lal Jose.
Early life
Archana was born ...
also received positive remarks from both critics and masses.
*This was actress
Amala Paul
Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991) is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Telugu cinema, Telugu films. She made her acting debut by appearing in a supporting role in the Malayalam-language ...
's first film. Her next release was her debut as Anaka in Tamil; the critically acclaimed and box office hit Tamil film Mynaa.
*The main villain role was played by Suresh Nair, the younger brother of
Ambika
Ambika may refer to:
Mythology
* Ambika (goddess), an avatar of the Hindu goddesses Durga, Parvati, and Shakti
* Ambika (Jainism), a Jain Yakshini goddess
* Ambika (Mahabharata), the wife of Vichitravirya was also the mother of Dhritarashtra, ...
, which was originally portrayed by Sathar.
* Noted Malayalam Poet and Lyricist
Mullanezhi
Mullanezhi Neelakandan Namboothiri (1948–2011), popularly known as Mullanezhi, was a Malayalam poet, playwright, lyricist and actor from Thrissur in Kerala state of India. He was awarded the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award twice: in 1995 for ...
played a small role, as an old man sitting under the banyan tree near the temple.
Soundtrack
This film features a successful soundtrack composed by
Vidyasagar with lyrics penned by
Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma
Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma (born 12 February 1960) is a noted malayalam lyricist and poet. He is the son of Malayalam Popular poet and lyricist late Vayalar Ramavarma. He made his debut in the malayalam film industry through the 1990 malayalam ...
.
Vijay Prakash
Vijay Prakash (born 21 February 1976) is an Indian Playback singer and also a Music Composer from Karnataka. He has given his voice for predominantly Kannada and Telugu language films. In addition, he has also sung in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam an ...
, famous through recent
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...
songs, was introduced to Malayalam through this film. The track "Anuraga Vilochananayi", sung by
Shreya Ghoshal
Shreya Ghoshal (born 12 March 1984) is an Indian singer and television personality. One of the highest-paid and most well-established playback singers of Indian cinema, she has received four National Film Awards, four Kerala State Film Awar ...
and V.Shreekumar (Shreekumar Vakkiyil), turned out to be one of the most successful songs of the year. It was the chart topper for many continuous weeks.
Vidyasagar won the
Filmfare Award for Best Music Director
The Filmfare Best Music Album Award is given by the '' Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to the best composer/arranger of a soundtrack. This category was first presented in 1954. Naushad Ali was the fir ...
and Mathrubhumi-Amrita Film Award for Best Music Director, for his work in the film. The track "Anuraga Vilochananayi" won the Most Popular Song of the Year Award at 2009 Vanitha Film Awards.
Box office
The film was commercial success.
References
General
(1979) - IMDB''Re-Birth of Neelathaamara''
Specific
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neelathamara (2009 Film)
2009 films
2000s Malayalam-language films
Remakes of Indian films
Indian romantic drama films
2009 romantic drama films
Films shot in Thrissur
Films shot in Palakkad
Films with screenplays by M. T. Vasudevan Nair
Films scored by Vidyasagar
Films directed by Lal Jose