''Vatsalyam'' (English: Parental love) is a

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

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

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by

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 ...

and written by

A. K. Lohithadas Ambazhathil Karunakaran Lohithadas (10 May 1955 – 28 June 2009) was an Indian screenwriter, playwright, film maker, and producer who worked in the Malayalam film industry. In a career spanning over two decades, his films have won a Nationa ...

. It stars

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 ...

, Siddique, Geetha, Janardhanan,

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 ...

Ilavarasi Ilavarasi is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam Kannada and Hindi cinema. She was one of the prominent lead actresses from 1982 to 1992. Her popular lead roles are ''vatsalyam'' along with Mammootty and Visu' s ''S ...

, Aboobacker, and

Kaviyoor Ponnamma Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing cred ...

. The film contrasts traditional and modern values following two brothers ''Meledathu Raghavan Nair'' (Mammootty) and ''Vijayakumaran Nair'' (Siddique).

Plot

Meledathu Raghavan Nair (

) is the only support of a big family that includes his mother, wife Malathi ( Geetha), brother Vijayakumaran Nair ( Siddique), sister Sudha (

), uncle Kunjammama (Aboobacker) and his daughter Nalini (

Bindu Panicker Bindu Panicker is an Indian actress who has more than 200 films to her credit. She has played both comedy and character roles in Malayalam cinema. She won the Kerala State Film Award for the best supporting actress in 2001 for Soothradharan. S ...

). After Raghavan's father's death the whole responsibility of the family came upon Raghavan. His father had left with them huge amount of debts which then reached a stage of attachment from court. At that critical juncture it was Raghavan's uncle Kunjammama who helped them repay the debts by selling his property out of love for Raghavan's father and his family. Raghavan's brother Vijayakumaran Nair is studying for LLB. Raghavan has pinged his entire hope on his brother Vijayakumaran and wants to see him as a lawyer. After Vijayakumaran became a lawyer he gets a marriage proposal of a senior advocate's (under whom he practises) daughter Shobha (

). The marriage takes place contrary to the understanding that it is Nalini (daughter of Kunjammama) who is to marry him. However, before the marriage, regarding this matter there was a small clash between him and his brother Raghavan. Since Raghavan felt that he was not being loyal to Kunjammama's daughter Nalini who were to marry Vijayakumaran, he arranges a marriage for her before his brother's marriage. After the marriage Shobha tries to dominate the house in each and every matter. There occurs small clashes between her and the family members. Later a marriage proposal for the brothers' only sister Sudha arrives for which the bridegroom's family demand large amount of money and gold. In order to meet this Raghavan had to ask the help of his brother who in turn turns for the same to his wife Shobha. Shobha says that she will give the money on the condition that it will be returned and in the family she will be respected. One day when the family sit together for meal Raghavan comes in between straight from the fields to dine with them. This irritates Shobha and she tells that it is unhygienic and she cannot stand the bad odour emanating from the mud-filled Raghavan. This in turn infuriates Sudha who sees her elder brother insulted. Shobha who takes Sudha's stand in the situation as threatening tries to evade from her earlier stand to give money for Sudha's marriage. However she is ready to help them if only the entire family is ready to bow before her. This Raghavan sees as an insult to the entire family. He then decides to make the entire money by himself. In order to do so he pawns his share of the family wealth and finds money for the marriage. Meanwhile, another egoistic encounter of Sobha with Kunjammama forces him to leave the family. When Raghavan also felt that his stay with his brother would only destroy the entire family, he also leaves the family to a new place, find some land and starts farming. After his brother left Vijayakumaran who is now alienated in the home feels estranged completely. He then meets his father in law (the advocate) who tells him that it was his mistake that he could not control his wife which led to all this. Vijayakumaran then confronts his wife reasons her and slaps her. He then goes to his brother who now stays in a new place and asks him to come back. But Raghavan rejects his brothers request with love and tells him that he is always with him and will come back to home whenever he feels like he should meet his brother. The movie ends with Raghavan cherishing his love for his brother.

Cast

as Meledathu raghavan Nair * Geetha as Malathi (Malu) *

as Sudha * Siddique as Vijayakumaran Nair *

as Shobha *

Renuka Renuka, also known as Yellamma, is a Hindu goddess worshipped predominantly in the South Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and western state of Maharashtra. She is also known as the mother of Parashurama ...

as Ambika *

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 Divakaran * Janardhanan as Ramankutty Menon *

as Janaki Amma (mother of the 4 siblings) *

as Nalini * Aboobacker as Kunjan Nair (Kunjammama) *

as Bullock Cart Driver- special appearance in the title song Inni Kochu Varambin *

Kozhikode Narayanan Nair Kozhikode Narayanan Nair is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema, who has acted in more than 300 films. He entered the "Malayalam" movie industry (Mollywood) through a drama troupe. His first film was ''Aabhijathyam'' (1970), and he is also reme ...

as Govindan Nair *

Ottapalam Pappan Ottapalam Pappan (15 June 1945 - 25 July 2013) was an Indian theatre, television and film actor in Malayalam movies during the 1990s and 2000s. Pappan started as a theatre artist and later debuted in film with the 1991 movie '' Valsalyam''. He a ...

as Saithalikka * Abi as Vinod * Baby Ambili

Crew

Voice - Over artist

Release

The film was released on 12 April 1993.

Box office

The film was commercial success, and ran over 255 days in theatres.

Awards

received the 1993

Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actor is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India to an actor for best performance in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Depar ...

for his role in the film. *The film won

Filmfare Award for Best Film - Malayalam ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

received by H. M. Basheer (1993)https://ia903106.us.archive.org/31/items/41stAnnualFilmfareMalayalamBestDirectorMusicFilm/41st%20annual%20filmfare%20malayalam%20best%20director%20music%20film.jpg

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 4 songs, all composed by

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 ...

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 Kannett ...

References

External links

* {{A. K. Lohithadas 1993 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Indian drama films Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Ottapalam Films with screenplays by A. K. Lohithadas Films scored by S. P. Venkatesh Films directed by Cochin Haneefa