''Punjabi House'' is a 1998 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 (film and television), drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple co ...

film written and directed by

Rafi Mecartin Rafi may refer to: Places * Rafi, Iran, a city in Khuzestan Province * Rafi, Abadan, a village in Khuzestan Province * Rafi, Nigeria, a Local Government Area of Niger State Other uses * Rafi (name), a name of Arabic origin * Rafi (political party) ...

. It stars

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan Pillai, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, and businessman who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in more than 150 films and has won several awards, inc ...

and

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 ...

as comedy duo Unni and Ramanan with

Mohini Mohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, ') is the Hindu goddess of enchantment. She is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a '' femme fatale'', an enchantress, who maddens lovers and demons, sometimes leading them ...

Jomol Jomol (; born 1 January 1981), also known as Gauri is an Indian actress, known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and National Film Award - Special Mention for her role in '' Ennu Swantham Ja ...

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 ...

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 ...

Thilakan Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...

, Janardhanan and

N. F. Varghese Nadakkaparambil Francis Varghese (6 January 1950 – 19 June 2002) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam film industry. He began his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, acting in minor roles, but later he turned to strong villain r ...

in pivotal roles. The music was composed by

Suresh Peters Suresh Peters (born 26 April 1968) is a multi talented artist in the field of Indian music. He is a music producer, a professional drummer, an award-winning music director in five Indian languages and a playback singer in multiple Indian langua ...

and

S. P. Venkatesh S. P. Venkatesh (also credited as Sangeetharajan; born 5 March 1955) is an Indian music director and composer who primarily works in Malayalam films. He was at his prime in the late 80s and 90s, being reputed for his background scores and songs ...

, the former composing the songs, making his debut as a film composer and the latter composing the score. The film was released as an

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 ...

release on 4 September 1998. The film was a blockbuster at release even though it clashed with

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 ...

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...

starrer

Harikrishnans ''Harikrishnans'' is a 1998 Indian Malayalam-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Fazil. The film was produced and distributed by Suchitra Mohanlal under the production company Pranavam Arts, starring Mammootty and Mohanlal in ...

. Many dialogues from the film turned into popular catchphrases. The character ''Ramanan'' played by Harishree Ashokan is considered one of the best comedy characters in Malayalam movies and has a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

status. The movie is considered one of the best slapstick comedy film in Malayalam cinema and it established Dileep as a leading star and catapulted him into stardom. The film was remade in Telugu as ''

Maa Balaji ''Maa Balaji'' () is a 1999 Indian Telugu-language comedy drama film directed by Kodi Ramakrishna. The film stars Vadde Naveen, Maheswari, and Laya. It is produced by S. Gopal Reddy on Bhargav Art Productions. The music was composed by Vandemata ...

'' in 1999, in Kannada with the same title in 2002 and in Hindi as ''

Chup Chup Ke ''Chup Chup Ke'' () is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Priyadarshan. Originally titled ''Khatta Meetha'', it is adapted from Malayalam film ''Punjabi House'' (1998). The film stars Shahid Kapoor (Kismat Konnection), ...

'' in 2006. This film had 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. ...

among the audience.

Plot

Unni is an unsuccessful entrepreneur, who is in deep debt and in no situation to repay them. Due to torment from his many creditors and lack of solace from his family, he decides to commit suicide (faking it as an accident) so that his debts can be repaid with the insurance money. He jumps off the pier into the sea only to be rescued by fishermen from a distant coast, named Gangadharan and his employee Ramanan. Unni pretends to be deaf and mute in front of them, so as to not reveal the truth. Back at home, his family is denied insurance, stating unconfirmed death (owing to lack of body), putting them in a difficult situation on repaying the debt. Gangadharan has a debt of his own, to a Punjabi family of moneylenders who are settled in Kerala. The situation demands Unni and Ramanan to work at their home until he can repay the sum. There he meets a Punjabi girl named Pooja, who is mute. She finds out that he is not deaf or mute and considers him to be a fraudster, but later sympathises with him after learning his situation. She pays off his debt through Ramanan, without revealing to his family about their living son. The couple eventually falls in love and decide to get married. Her family agrees to their marriage on the condition that he will never desert her, as she had a traumatic failed marriage proposition in the past. From Ramanan, by a slip of the tongue, Unni's family learns of his survival. They find him and demand him to come back, as Sujatha who was in love with him, still waits for him living as his widow. He is shocked by the news but decides not to return because he does not want to put Pooja through more agony. During the marriage ceremony the next day, the family intervenes, but when Sujatha sees Pooja and the pain that she is going to inflict on her family, she finally decides to let go of him.

Cast

as Unnikrishnan / Unni *

Harisree Asokan 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 ...

as Ramanan *

as Pooja Kaur *

as Sikkandar Singh *

as Gangadharan (Mothalali) *

as Sujatha *

as Kaimal Master * Janardhanan as Manninder Singh *

as Sadashiva Kaimal *

Neena Kurup Neena Kurup is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films. She is most well known for her roles as Aswathy in '' Sreedharante Onnam Thirumurivu'' (1987) and Karishma in ''Punjabi House'' (1998). She has acted in many television serials af ...

as Karishma Kaur (Pooja's cousin) *

Indrans Indrans is an Indian actor and former costume designer, who appears in Malayalam films.His mentor was Shiyas M S, a law college student. He started his film career as a costume designer and actor in 1981 and got a breakthrough in 1994 with the ...

as Uthaman *Manka Mahesh as Unnikrishnan's mother *

Kunchan Kunchan is a given name. Notable people with the name include: *Kunchan Nambiar Kunchan Nambiar was a prominent Malayalam poet of the 18th century (1705-1770). Apart from being a prolific poet, Nambiar is also famous as the originator of the da ...

as Thommichan *

Machan Varghese M. L. Varghese (1960 – 3 February 2011), popularly known by stage name Machan Varghese, was a Malayalam film actor and mimicry artist. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan (house of arts) and debuted as an actor through ''K ...

as Lawrence *Samshudh Abel as Sonia the wrestler * Reena as Manninder Singh's wife *Praseetha Menon as the cook *Gayathri *

Vijayalakshmi Vijaya lakshmi is a Hindu Indian feminine given name or surname, which means "goddess of victory". The name may refer to: People First name * Vijayalakshmi Atluri, Indian computer scientist *Vijayalakshmi (Kannada actress), Indian actress *Vijaya ...

(uncredited role)

Soundtrack

Release

This film was released on 4 September 1998, as an

release along with six other major releases, becoming the 2nd highest grossing movie of year.

Legacy

The movie is hailed as one of the best Malayalam comedy movies ever made. The character of Ramanan, portrayed by

has achieved cult status and a huge following over the years, being one of Asokan's most well-known roles. It is considered to be one of the most memorable characters of Malayalam Cinema.

Remakes

*''Punjabi House'' was remade in Hindi as ''

'', directed by

Priyadarshan Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in Hi ...

. *''Punjabi House'' was remade in Telugu as ''

'', directed by

Kodi Ramakrishna Kodi Ramakrishna (23 July 1949 – 22 February 2019) was an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. One of the most prolific film directors of Telugu film industry, Kodi Ramakrishna has ...

. *''Punjabi House'' was remade in Kannada in the same name.

References

External links

{{Rafi Mecartin 1990s Malayalam-language films 1998 films 1998 comedy-drama films Malayalam films remade in other languages Indian comedy-drama films Films about Sikhism Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Alappuzha Films scored by Suresh Peters Films directed by Rafi–Mecartin