''Sree Krishna Parunthu'' () is a

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

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

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by

A. Vincent Aloysius Vincent (14 June 1928 – 25 February 2015) was an Indian cinematographer and director known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language films. From the mid-1960s on, he directed some 30 movies including the landmark Mal ...

and written by P. V. Thampi based on his novel ''Krishna Parunthu''. The film stars

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 ...

Balan K. Nair Balakrishnan Nair, more popularly known as Balan K. Nair (4 April 1933 26 August 2000) was an Indian actor known for his roles in Malayalam cinema. Although he appeared as a villain in most films, he was also noted for his performances in stron ...

, Jagathy Sreekumar, Pavithra, and Bindu. The story is about Kumaran, a complete rogue, who turns out to be a pious saint and the temptations he has to suffer. The music for the film was composed by

K. Raghavan K. Raghavan (2 December 1913 – 19 October 2013), also fondly called Raghavan Master, was a Malayalam music composer and Carnatic Vocalist. Along with G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissance ...

. The film was a major commercial success of that year at Mollywood box office.

Plot

Puthoor Illam is a traditional family that practices positive tantric magic under blessings of their family god, Lord

Garuda Garuda (Sanskrit: ; Pāli: ; Vedic Sanskrit: गरुळ Garuḷa) is a Hindu demigod and divine creature mentioned in the Hindu, Buddhist and Jain faiths. He is primarily depicted as the mount (''vahana'') of the Hindu god Vishnu. Garuda is a ...

, popularly known as Sri Vishnu Parunthu (The Eagle of

Lord Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

). The family is widely respected for their ability to revive near-dead people due to venomous snake bites using the sacred water through invoking Garuda. Pappu (

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 ...

), who is the current magician of the family, foresees his death and decides to transfer all his knowledge to his nephew Kumaran Thampi (

). Kumaran, whose only interest is wine and women reluctantly accepts the decision, as the magician must vow to maintain extreme celibacy. Pappu transfers all his knowledge to Kumaran and dies. Thus Kumaran becomes the next magician of the locality famous for curing snake bites and warding off evil spirits. One night Kumaran goes to his ancestral palace for collecting manuscripts on traditional magic. On his return, he encounters the ghost of Lakshmikutty, who tries to attract Kumaran. Lakshmikutty died of a snake bite while having sexual intercourse with Kumaran earlier. Using his magical powers, Kumaran gains control over the ghost. Lakshmikutty vows to Kumaran that she will not disturb him till he keeps his

Brahmacharya ''Brahmacharya'' (; sa, ब्रह्मचर्य ) is a concept within Indian religions that literally means to stay in conduct within one's own Self. In Yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism it generally refers to a lifestyle charac ...

. Choorakkattu Bhattathiri is a local black magician who wants to gain supremacy on the locality by destroying the magical powers of Kumaran and he worships Vada-yakshi, who resides in the Banyan tree along with demoness Dhuma. From ghosts to women, he tries everything to do it, but Kumaran escapes with his powers. Meanwhile, Kumaran gets attracted towards Bhanumathi (Pavithra), who starts to disturb him in his dreams. Soon Kumaran loses control over his emotions and breaks his Brahmacharya by having sex with Meenakshi, a local prostitute. Here starts the deterioration of Kumaran's magical powers. The ghost of Lakshmikutty returns, since Kumaran has breached his brahmacharya. Again using his magical powers, Kumaran convinces her and keeps her locked inside his outbuilding. As he broke his celibacy vows, he can't invoke Garuda anymore and loses much of his magical powers. Kumaran starts to perform black magic for making money, since he is not able to concentrate. Choorakkattu Bhattathiri uses Vada Yakshi and Dhuma Demoness to kill all relatives of Kumaran. While Garuda saved the pious mother of Kumaran from Vada Yakshi, Dhuma was successful in burning the niece of Kumaran. However the nephew was saved, as he was wearing the magical amulet. Soon he marries Bhanumathi, which makes his mother leave his home. On the day before his marriage, Kumaran gets attracted to the persuasions from Lakshmikutty and gets trapped by having sexual intercourse with her. Lakshmikutty curses Kumaran that he will not be able to have sex with any other women. Due to this, Kumaran tries to avoid sexual intercourse with Bhanumathi, which evokes doubts on her. Later, she finds the relationship between Kumaran and Lakshmikutty. One night, she enters the outbuilding by breaking the magical barriers, mistaking Lakshmikutty as a normal woman. The ghost of Lakshmikutty enters the body of Bhanumathi and starts to disturb Kumaran. An attempt by Kumaran to destroy the ghost leads to the suicide of Bhanumathi. A desperate Kumaran decides to stop worshipping Lord Garuda and the family goddess completely and becomes the disciple of his relative Kunjambu (

), another black magician, and Kumaran begins worshipping Varthali, the negative spirit of the boar-headed Goddess

Varahi Varahi ( sa, वाराही, )) is also used as the name of the consort of Varaha, who is identified with Bhumi (the earth goddess). This consort is depicted in a human form., group=note is one of the Matrikas, a group of seven mother go ...

. Then with the help of black magic powers, Kumaran becomes successful in destroying his enemies; Lakshmikutty as well as Choorakkattu Bhattathiri. Choorakkattu Bhattathiri becomes a lunatic. Later, Kumaran hears that his relatives are planning to secure the manuscripts from his ancestral palace. The greedy Kumaran rushes to the palace forgetting the warning from Kunajambu, that as a devotee of Varthali, he forfeits his right to worship all other

Devas Devas may refer to: * Devas Club, a club in south London * Anthony Devas (1911–1958), British portrait painter * Charles Stanton Devas (1848–1906), political economist * Jocelyn Devas (died 1886), founder of the Devas Club * Devas (band), ...

, including

. As soon as he enters the palace, Garuda appears and attacks him. Meanwhile, when he tries to take the holy manuscripts, the protecting Goddess appears in front of him. He tries to counter with help of Varthali, but in front of the all powerful goddess, Varthali disappears. The goddess curses him and using her power, sets the palace on fire. Kumaran, who suffers severe intense burns and severe deadly blows from Garuda escapes out of the burning palace. The movie ends with the Kumaran breathing his last after transferring his knowledge to his nephew as per the tradition.

Cast

as Kumaran Thampi * G. Srinivasan as Choorakkattu Bhattathiri * Kanchana as Kunjikutty Thankachi (Kumaran's mother) * Jagathy Sreekumar as Gopalan, Kumaran's friend * Oduvil Unnikrishnan as Maarar, Kumaran's friend *

as Kunjambu * Pavithra as Bhanumathi * Bindu as Lakshmikkutty *

Mucherla Aruna Mucherla Aruna is an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films, mainly during the 1980s. Early life and career Mucherla Aruna was born in Kothagudem of Telangana into a family that belongs to Arjunudupalem, nea ...

as Naanikutty *

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 ...

as Shekharan Thampi *

as Padmanabhan Thampi (Pappu) *

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 Maheshwari * Mala Aravindan as Shankushar * Thodupuzha Vasanthi * Kunjandi * Meena as Shekharan Thampi’s mother *

P. K. Abraham P. K. Abraham was an Indian actor in Malayalam movies. He acted more than 100 Malayalam films. He was an actor who had supporting roles and character roles during the 1970s and 1980s. He had worked for Malayalamanorama. He died in 1996 Film ...

* Santhakumari

Production

The film was shot in a house named ''Parekkattu Mana'' in Kanniyampuran,

Ottappalam Ottapalam, (also spelled Ottappalam) is a town, taluk and municipality in the Palakkad District, Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ottapalam taluk. Ottapalam is located about 36 km from district headquarters Palakkad. ...

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features three songs composed by

with lyrics by

P. Bhaskaran Pulloottupadathu Bhaskaran alias as P. Bhaskaran (21 April 1924 – 25 February 2007), was a Malayalam poet, lyricist of Malayalam film songs, and filmmaker. He penned more than 3000 songs for about 250 films. He also directed 44 Malayalam fea ...

. The soundtrack album was released on 1 December 1984 by

Saregama Saregama India Ltd. (Saregama refers to the first four notes of the Indian musical scale); formerly known as The Gramophone Company Of India Ltd. is India's oldest music label owned by the RP- Sanjiv Goenka Group of companies. The company i ...

Release

The film was a major commercial success of that year at Mollywood box office.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0156072, Shree Krishnaparanthu 1984 films 1980s Malayalam-language films 1984 horror films Indian ghost films Indian horror films Films based on Indian novels Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Ottapalam Films directed by A. Vincent