''Pookkalam Varavayi'' () is a 1991 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

comedy-drama 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 ...

film directed by Kamal and written by

Ranjith Ranjit or Renjith may refer to: Religion * Anton Ranjith Pillainayagam (born 1966), Sri Lankan Tamil Catholic priest, Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Colombo * Malcolm Ranjith (born 1947), Sri Lankan Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, C ...

from a story by

P. R. Nathan Payyanat Ravindra Nathan better known by his pen name P. R. Nathan, is a novelist, screenplay writer, dramatist, short story writer, travelogue writer and speaker from Palakkad, Kerala, India. He was awarded with the prestigious Kerala Sahitya ...

. It stars Jayaram,

Sunitha Sunīta was a highly accomplished disciple of the Buddha. He was born in a family of untouchables whose job was of sweeping around the temple area. According to Thanissaro Bhikkhu's translation of the Theragāthā account, Sunīta laments: :"P ...

, Shamili, Murali, and Geetha. Divya Unni and

Kavya Madhavan Kavya Madhavan (born 19 September 1984) is a former Indian actress, who appeared predominantly in Malayalam films. She made her debut in 1991 as a child artist in '' Pookkalam Varavayi''. Her debut role as a lead actress was in Lal Jose's '' ...

made their debuts in the film as child artists. The plot revolves around the friendship between a school bus driver, Nandan, and a little girl, Geethu.

Plot

Five-year-old Geethu's parents get divorced, so she now stays four days a week with her mom and three days with her dad as per the court's order. She becomes friendly with Nandan, the driver of her school bus. During her Christmas vacation, Geethu decides to go to Nandan's village without informing her parents. Nandan's sister had recently lost her daughter, who was the same age as Geethu, when she drowned in the village river. Geethu wins the heart of everyone in the village and becomes the center of attention there. Meanwhile, her parents are worried about their missing child and are searching for her everywhere. Finally, they learn where Geethu is and come to the village to retrieve her. Geethu also falls into the river — the same way Nandan's niece drowned — but is rescued by Nandan. The tension and anxiety unite her parents and they decide to live together again.

Cast

* Jayaram as Nandan *

as Thulasi, Nandan's love interest *

Baby Shamili Shamlee, also known as Baby Shamili/Shamlee, (born 10 July 1987), is an Indian actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam films. Her roles include the mentally challenged child Anjali in the 1990 film '' Anjali'', for which ...

as Geethu * Murali as Jayaraj, Geethu's father * Geetha as Usha, Geethu's mother * Innocent as Pothuval * Jagathy Sreekumar as Cherukunnathu Bhaskara Pillai * Rekha as Nirmala, Nandan's sister *

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 Muthachan * Kaviyoor Ponnamma as Nandan's Mother * Philomina as Akkamma *

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 The Priest * Kalpana as the Tuition Teacher *

Meenakumari Meena Kumari (born Mahjabeen Bano; 1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as ''The Tragedy Queen'', she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari is widely considered one of ...

as Bhaskara Pillai and Jayaraj's Sister * Kuthiravattam Pappu as Mariyappan * Paravoor Bharathan as Bus Driver *

as First School Girl * Divya Unni as Second School Girl * Baby Charishma as Third School Girl

Soundtrack

References

External links

* 1990s Malayalam-language films 1991 films 1991 drama films Films directed by Kamal (director) Films with screenplays by Ranjith Films scored by Ouseppachan {{1990s-Malayalam-film-stub