''Aalkkoottathil Thaniye'' en, Alone In a Crowd) is a 1984

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 2 ...

film directed by I. V. Sasi, written by

M. T. Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post-I ...

, and starring Mammootty,

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 app ...

and Seema.

Plot

Rajan is successful in his job, but his family life is not so happy. His wife, Nalini, aspires to receive a fellowship to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, leaving behind her husband and child, Babumon. When his father, Madhavan, a retired school teacher, is down with an ailment, Rajan, along with his family, returns to his ancestral home. Rajan's elder sister, Vishalam, younger sister, Seethalakshmi and husband Padmanabhan also arrive to meet their father, as his health condition is serious. Madhavan's daughters and in-laws are busy in their own ways, as they don't wish to spend many days with their dying father. In his sickness, Madhavan expresses his wish to meet his niece, Ammukutty. Ammu arrives and takes care of her dying uncle. Madhavan's children except for Rajan leave as Ammu is there to look after their father. Rajan remembers his young days of romance with Ammu. Rajan and Ammu wish to marry each other. Ammu, an elementary school teacher, encourages him and sponsors him to enroll for

Master's degree in Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as account ...

from the prestigious

Cochin University Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT) is a state government-owned autonomous university in Kochi, Kerala, India. It was founded in 1971 and has three campuses: two in Kochi (Kalamassery and Ernakulam) and one in Kuttanad, Al ...

. Rajan meets Anil Kumar at the university. Rajan secures a good job once he completes the course. But then, Rajan's boss Balachandran, who is Madhavan's disciple, wishes to marry his daughter Nalini to Rajan. Madhavan, in spite of knowing his son's and Ammu's love, insists that Rajan marry Nalini. Helplessly, Rajan obeys his father. Ammukutty desperately starts living alone separately in her house thereafter and continues her job. Nalini goes to town from her ancestral home to attend her interview with Harvard University. Busy with his job, Rajan also wants to leave. Upon Ammu's request, he leaves his son with her. Babumon and Ammu become close and they spend those days happily. Nalini passes the interview and is all set to go to the US. Knowing her son's relation with Ammu, she asks Rajan to bring Ammu as a servant to look after her son when she's away in the USA. Rajan tells her Ammu is the one who spent money for his higher studies. Nalini later tries to return the amount of money which Ammu spent for her husband. Ammu remorsefully shouts at her. Understanding his wife's fault, Rajan slaps her and reveals their unfruitful love story. Ammukutty later feels sorry for her words and advises Nalini. Nalini repents for her rudeness and wishes to stay back in India with her family. But upon Ammu's insistence, telling not to lose a great opportunity, Rajan and Nalini unanimously decide to get Nalini to fly to the US for her fellowship. Madhavan's health slowly recovers. Rajan, Nalini and son happily go back, leaving Ammukutty again in her loneliness.

Cast

* Mammootty as Rajan *

as Anil Kumar * Seema as Ammukkutty *

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 ...

as Madhavan *

Unnimary Unni Mary (born 12 March 1962) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Malayalam films. She has also worked in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films, where she had used the screen name Deepa. Personal life Unnimary was born to Augustine Fernande ...

as Nalini * Lalu Alex as Padmanabhan * Sumithra as Seethalakshmi *Master Prasobh as Babumon *

Kuthiravattam Pappu Padmadalakshan, better known by his stage name Kuthiravattam Pappu (24 December 1936 – 25 February 2000), was a popular Indian stage and film actor. His repertoire of acting was based on his unique style and use of the '' Kozhikodan'' dialect, ...

as Kutti Narayanan * Janardhanan as Balachandran *

Adoor Bhasi K. Bhaskaran Nair (1 March 1929 – 29 March 1990), known by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director from Kerala. Adoor Bhasi was almost always cast as the man who stands next to the hero. His hilarious actions and role ...

as Achuthan * Sukumari as Cheeru * Shubha as Vishalam *

Jalaja Jalaja is an Indian actress in Malayalam films who was active during the 1970s and 1980s. She had won Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 1981 for the movie Venal directed by Lenin Rajendran. Perso ...

as Sindhu *

Kundara Johnny Johny Joseph with the stage name Kundara Johny is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted in more than 100 films. He has also done Tamil films like ''Vaazhkai Chakram'' and '' Nadigan''. He surprised everyone with the wide range of p ...

as Gopinath

Release

The film was released on 6 March 1984.

Box office

The film was commercial success.

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer), an Indian music composer from Kerala * Shyam Benegal, Indian film di ...

and the lyrics were written by

Kavalam Narayana Panicker Kavalam Narayana Panicker (1 May 1928 – 26 June 2016) was an Indian dramatist, theatre director, and poet. He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Kalidasa's ''Vikramorvasiy ...

References

External links

* * {{I. V. Sasi 1980s Malayalam-language films 1984 romantic drama films 1984 films Films with screenplays by M. T. Vasudevan Nair Films directed by I. V. Sasi Indian romantic drama films