''Wanted'' is a 2004 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 thriller film directed by newcomer Murali Nagavally and written 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 ...

. The films stars five newcomers:

Madhu Warrier Madhu Warrier (born 5 July 1976), professionally credited as Madhu Wariar, is an Indian actor, director and producer known for his roles in Malayalam films. He produced the films '' Swa Le'' (2009) and ''Mayamohini'' (2012). His younger sister ...

, Aravindan, Anniyappan,

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. Career ...

, and

Suchitra Suchitra Ramadurai, known by the mononym Suchitra, is an Indian radio jockey, popular playback singer, songwriter, composer, voice artist, dubbing artist and film actress. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada ...

. The film is a remake of the Telugu film ''

Aithe ''Aithe...'' () is a 2003 Indian Telugu-language thriller film written and directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti, and produced by Gangaraju Gunnam under his studio Just Yellow. It stars debutants Mohit Chadda, Shashank, , Janardhan, and Sindhu Tola ...

'' (2003).

Plot

Five unemployed youngsters plan a heist. Don Muhammed Ibrahim comes to the city where the youngsters are. How Narayana Swamy IPS brings the youngsters to justice forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Unni *Aravindan as Nandu *Aniyappan as Chupran *

as Mani *

as Anu *

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 decad ...

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such as ' ...

Vijayaraghavan Vijayaraghavan (born 20 December 1951) is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is popular for his character roles. He is the son of popular drama and cinema artist N. N. Pillai. He got his break by playing the iconic ...

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relation ...

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 Anu's father *

Venu Nagavally Venu Nagavally (16 April 1949 – 10 September 2010) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director best known for his work in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. He has directed 12 films. Son of writer, commentator, and broadcaster Nagav ...

Captain Raju Raju Daniel (27 June 1950 – 17 September 2018), better known by his stage name Captain Raju, was an Indian army officer and Indian actor. He acted in more than 600 films in various languages, including Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannad ...

* Vijayakumar *

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 ...

KPAC Lalitha Maheshwari Amma, better known by her stage name K. P. A. C. Lalitha, was an Indian film and stage actress who worked primarily in Malyalam. She started her acting career with K. P. A. C., a theatre collective in Kayamkulam, Kerala. In a caree ...

* Manka Mahesh *

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 ...

as Narayana Swamy

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

(cameo appearance)

Production

Murali Nagavally, who worked as an assistant to

, made his directorial debut with this film. Newcomers Madhu Warrier, Nishanth Sagar, Aravind, Anniyappan and Suchitha were cast in the lead. Mohanlal, who promised Nagavally that he will star in his directorial debut, made a cameo appearance as a police officer.

Themes and influences

The film took into account the growing interests of the middle class in Kerala.

Soundtrack

Music by Deepak Chatterjee and lyrics by Gireesh Puthencherry. *"Changueduthukattiyal" - Anvar *"Kallayipuzha" -

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor an ...

, Aparna Jayan *"Mizhithamara Poovil" -

M. G. Sreekumar Malabar Gopalan Sreekumar (born 25 May 1957), better known as M.G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 2000 ...

, Aparna Jayan *"Omale Nee" - M. G. Sreekumar *"Pon Veyile" - M. G. Sreekumar *"Shlokam" - M. G. Sreekumar *"Title Song" - Thara Thomas

Release and reception

The film had a good opening at the box office thanks to the positive word of mouth and Mohanlal's cameo. The film released alongside ''

Mayilattam Mayilattam (Tamil: மயிலாட்டம்) is an artistic and religious form of dance performed in the Hindu temples of Tamil Nadu in reverence to Lord Subrahmanya. Mayilattam performers wear costumes from head to toe like peacock with ...

'' and ''Kakkakarumban''. A critic from ''

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology company providing end-to-end ICT solutions including telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation in ...

'' gave the film a verdict of "good" and opined that "Director Murali has made the film like a Hollywood thriller. He has been able to extract powerful performances from the four young actors. Madhu Warrier is promising and Suchitha, a spitting image of Meera Jasmine is likeable. Anniyapan has scored in the comedy scenes".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0425634 2000s Malayalam-language films 2004 crime thriller films 2004 films Indian crime thriller films Malayalam remakes of Telugu films