''Pulival Kalyanam'' () is a 2003 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 comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Shafi The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by ...

and written by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas. The film stars

Jayasurya Jayasurya (born August 1978) is an Indian actor, distributor, Sponsor, Model, film producer, playback singer, and impressionist, who works in the Malayalam films. He has appeared in more than 100 films and has won several awards, including a N ...

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 '' ...

, with

Lal Lal ( fa, لعل, hi, लाल, bn, লাল, ur, لال, ps, Lāl) is an Indo-Iranian surname and given name, which means "darling", "precious", or "beloved", from the Sanskrit ''lala'' ("cajoling").''Dictionary of American Family Names''F ...

, Lalu Alex,

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decades ...

Harisree Ashokan Harisree Ashokan is an Indian actor and director who is known for his comedy roles in Malayalam films. Ashokan has acted in more than 200 Malayalam films. He started his career as a mimicry artist in the troupe Harisree and then worked in Kalab ...

Salim Kumar Salim Kumar (born 10 October 1969) is an Indian actor, comedian, director and writer in Malayalam cinema. Mostly known for his comic and comedy roles, Salim Kumar is considered one of the best and most prominent comedians in the history of Mala ...

and

Cochin Haneefa Muhammed Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010), better known by his stage name Cochin Haneefa, was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on to ...

in supporting roles. The plot follows Harikrishnan, a rustic whose

star-crossed "Star-crossed" or "star-crossed lovers" is a phrase describing a pair of lovers who, for some external reason, cannot be together. The term also has other meanings, but originally means that the pairing is being "thwarted by a malign star" or ...

romance with a girl (Ganga) from a rich family brings inadvertent consequences on the lives of people around them. The music was composed by Berny-Ignatius. It is considered as one of the best comedy films in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an 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, ''Elippathayam' ...

and the character ''Manavalan'' developed 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. ...

in the form of

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

s years after release. The film was remade in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as '' Chellata'' (2006).

Plot

Harikrishnan is the adopted younger brother of Karunan. When Karunan loses his right hand in an accident, Hari at a young age takes responsibility of his family. Karunan's sister, Sreekutti is in love with the son of Paramanandam, who is unscrupulous and demands a huge

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment b ...

for the marriage to be made possible. To make this marriage possible Harikrishnan and Karunan take a loan from a financier Manavalan and invest it in a fireworks business, only to lose it completely in a fire. Simultaneously, Harikrishnan gets his phone muddled with Ganga on account of both the models being the same. Ganga's father Raghavendra Sett is the boss of Paramanandam. Hari and Ganga have loads of comical misunderstandings before falling in love and deciding to get married. Of course this is not acceptable to Raghavendra Sett, and he puts obstacles in their way, like trying to get his daughter engaged to an eligible bachelor. The rest of the film shows how Hari and Ganga overcome those obstacles, and get married.

Cast

as Harikrishnan/Hari, Ganga's love interest *

as Ganga/Kaveri, Hari's love interest *

as Karunan, Hari And Sreekutti's brother * Lalu Alex as Raghavendra Seth *

as Paramanandam *

as Theeppori Kuttappan, Hari's best friend *

as Manavalan *

as Dharmendra * Karthika as Sreekutty *

Nishanth Sagar Nishant Balakrishnan (born 8 June 1980), known professionally by his stage name Nishant Sagar , is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Malayalam film industry. He has performed in over 50 films as a hero, co-star and antagonist. Care ...

as Ramesh Prasad *

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 Prasad *

Jose Pellissery Jose Pellissery (1950 – 5 December 2004) was an Indian film and theatre actor. Biography As an actor in Malayalam cinema, he played supporting roles in about 100 films. His 15-year film career included roles in such movies as ''Aadhaaram'', ...

as Swamy *

Kulappulli Leela Kulappulli Leela (born 19 April 1954) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam cinema, Tamil cinema and television. She has mostly done comedic roles, and has appeared in over 350 films. She began her career acting through ...

as Kuttappan's Mother *

Ponnamma Babu Ponnamma Babu is an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in more than 300 films, TV serials and Comedy shows . She made her debut in ''Padanayakan'' in 1996. Personal life Ponnamma was born to Mathai and ...

as Paramanandam's Wife *

Kochu Preman K. S. Premkumar (1 June 1955 – 3 December 2022), better known by his stage name Kochu Preman, was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam film industry. He acted in more than 300 films, mainly in supporting comedy roles, and also appeared i ...

as Santhosh Menon, Bank Manager *

Narayanankutty Narayanan Kutty or Kalabhavan Narayanankutty is a Malayalam film actor. He has acted in more than 300 films. He handles mainly comedy roles. Background Narayanan Kutty was born Ernakulam. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan ...

as Jayan, Taxi Driver * Shaju Sreedhar as Murali * Reena as Doctor * Priyanka Anoop as Neelambari * Beena Sabu as Kuttappan's Wife * Arun Kumar as Young Harikrishnan * Dimple Rose as Young Sreekutty * Irshad as Chandrappan, Train Passenger

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 6 songs, all composed by

Berny Ignatius Berny is a given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Bernard. It may refer to: * Bernardina Berny Boxem-Lenferink (born 1948), Dutch retired middle-distance runner * Berny Burke (born 1996), Costa Rican footballer * Bernabé Berny Peña ...

and Lyrics by

Kaithapram Padma Shri Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, popularly known as Kaithapram, is a Malayalam lyricist, poet, music director, actor, singer, screenwriter, music therapist and performer of Carnatic music. He debuted with the movie Ennennum K ...

Box office

The film was a commercial success at the box office.

Legacy

''Pulival Kalyanam'' is regarded as one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema, a number of dialogues became catchphrases. Characters and scenes are frequently used in trolls. The character ''Manavalan'' gained a cult following in the form of internet memes in social media.

References

External links

* 2000s Malayalam-language films 2003 romantic comedy-drama films 2003 films Indian romantic comedy-drama films Films scored by Berny–Ignatius Malayalam films remade in other languages Films about Indian weddings Films shot in Kochi Films directed by Shafi 2003 comedy films 2003 drama films {{2000s-romantic-drama-film-stub