''Susanna'' is a 2000

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 ...

film written, directed and produced by T. V. Chandran with

Vani Viswanath Vani Viswanath (born 13 May 1971) is an Indian actress who predominantly appeared in Malayalam and Telugu films. In 2000, Vani won the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress for her performance in '' Susanna'', directed by T. V. Chandr ...

in the title role. The film won two Kerala State Film Awards: Second Best Actress (

) and Special Jury Mention ( T. V. Chandran). It received the Padmarajan Award for Cinema in 2000. ''Susanna'' is widely regarded as the best performance by Vani Viswanath.

Plot

The central character is Susanna, who appears to be a prostitute living with five different people at the same time. These five men and Susanna engage in a strange relationship, easily misunderstood by the society around them. But no one can judge her on grounds of morality. She is a mother, wife, sister, daughter to all her men. They find peace in her presence.

Cast

as Susanna *

Narendra Prasad Raghava Kurup Narendra Prasad (26 December 1946 3 November 2003) was an Indian actor, playwright, director, teacher and literary critic. He was born at Mavelikkara in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Appreciated for his body language and ...

as Prof. Noor Mohammad *

Charuhasan S. Charuhasan (born 5 January 1931) is an Indian actor, director and retired lawyer who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films. He won the National Film Award for Best ActorSubha J Rao,Entertainment for a cause, The Hind ...

as Ramakrishna Iyer *

Bharath Gopi Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair (2 November 1937 – 29 January 2008), popularly known by the stage name Bharat Gopy, was an Indian actor, producer and director. He was one of the first actors to be associated with the New Wave cinema movement in ...

as Retd. High Commissioner K. P. Govardhanan Pillai *

Madhupal Madhupal Kannambathu is an Indian actor, director, and screenwriter who works in Malayalam cinema. Madhupal made his acting debut with '' Kashmeeram'' in 1994 and his directorial debut with ''Thalappavu'' (2008), which was about Naxal Varghese a ...

as Ramesan * Mukundan as Thomachan * M. R. Gopakumar *

M.G. Sasi M. G. Sasi (born 17 January 1964) is a film and drama director from Kerala. His short film ''Kanavumalayilekku'' received National Film Award for Best Educational Film in 2002. His first feature film '' Atayalangal'' (2008) received the Kerala ...

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

as Colonel Ramachandran Nair *

Urmila Unni Urmila Unni is an Indian classical dancer and actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Her daughter Utthara Unni is also an actress. Personal life Unni was born on June 14th, 1962 into a royal family as the daughter of K. C. Anuja ...

as Bhargavi *

K. B. Ganesh Kumar Keezhoote Balakrishna Pillai Ganesh Kumar (born 25 May 1966) is an Indian actor, television host, and politician. Ganesh Kumar is a proposed cabinet minister for the last 2.5 years in the ongoing 2nd LDF govt in Kerala and he is also the curre ...

* Murali as Josekutty *MG Sasi *Mukundan Menon *Gopalakrishnan *Prasanna Ravi *Teena *KG Chitranjali *Remya *Sudhiranjan *Aliyar *Reshmi Soman as Susanna's daughter *Omana Ouseph *Geetha Nair as Ramakrishna Iyer's wife

Soundtrack

The music is composed by

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

. Canadian poet and musician

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer-songwriter, poet and novelist. His work explored religion, politics, isolation, depression, sexuality, loss, death, and romantic relationships. He was inducted in ...

's " Suzanne" is played in the film. *"English Song" - N/A *"Himabinduvai Pirannu Ninmel" - Johnson

Production

Mallika Sarabhai Mallika Sarabhai (born 9 May 1954) is an activist and Indian classical dancer and actress from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Daughter of a classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai and space scientist Vikram Sarabhai, Mallika is an accomplished Kuchip ...

was also approached to play the role of Susanna.Unni R. Nair. (7 June 2001)
"Dani— Travelling with history"
'' Screen India''

References

External links

* 2000s Malayalam-language films Films directed by T. V. Chandran Films scored by Johnson {{2000s-Malayalam-film-stub