''Thenmavin Kompath'' () is a 1994 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

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film written and directed 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 ...

. It was produced and edited by N. Gopalakrishnan. 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 ...

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...

, and

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 ...

, with

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 ...

K. P. A. C. 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 ...

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 ...

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, i ...

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 ' ...

Sankaradi Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit. He dominated the ...

, and

Sharat Saxena Sharat Saxena (born 17 August 1950) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films along with Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films. He has acted in more than 250 Bollywood films. Saxena started his career in the early 1970s and has mainly played su ...

in supporting roles. The background score was 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 ...

, while the Berny-Ignatius duo composed the songs.

K. V. Anand Karimanal Venkatesan Anand (30 October 1966 30 April 2021) was an Indian cinematographer, film director and photojournalist, worked mainly in the Tamil film industry. After a short period as a journalist, he became a cinematographer in the e ...

was the cinematographer. The film performed well at the box office and was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year. The film won two

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

— Best Cinematography for Anand and Best Production Design for

Sabu Cyril Sabu Cyril is an Indian film production designer. Having worked in 116 feature films and 2500 add films. He has won four National Film Award for Best Production Design, four state awards, six Filmfare Award for Best Art Direction (including sout ...

, and five

Kerala State Film Awards The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have been bestowed by Kerala State Cha ...

(including Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value). ''Thenmavin Kombath'' is now considered by audiences and critics to be among the best comedy films in

Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema is an Indian film industry of Malayalam-language motion pictures. It is based in Kochi, Kerala, India. The films produced in Malayalam cinema are known for their cinematography and story-driven plots. In 1982, ''Elippathayam' ...

. The film was remade in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

as '' Muthu'' (1995), in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

as ''

Saat Rang Ke Sapne ''Saat Rang Ke Sapne'' () is a 1998 Indian Hindi film directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Amitabh Bachchan. It is a remake of Priyadarshan's own 1994 Malayalam film ''Thenmavin Kombath''. The film stars Arvind Swamy and Juhi Chawla. This ...

'' (1998) by Priyadarshan himself and in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

as ''

Sahukara ''Sahukara'' is a 2004 Indian Kannada-language film directed by Om Prakash Rao and produced by K. Manju. It stars V. Ravichandran, Rambha, Shashikumar and Anu Prabhakar. Veteran actor Vishnuvardhan made a special appearance. It was a remake o ...

'' (2004). The subplot of a man becoming a stranger amidst people speaking in a language unknown to him went on to inspire the core plot of the 2013 Hindi film ''

Chennai Express ''Chennai Express'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language action comedy film directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Ronnie Screwvala, Siddharth Roy Kapur, Gauri Khan and Karim Morani, based on a story by K. Subash, with a screenplay written by ...

''.

Plot

The story revolves around Manikyan, Sreekrishnan, Karthumpi, and the love triangle between them. Initially, Manikyan and Karthumpi don't get along initially and get into intense arguments. But they fall in love as time goes on. Manikyan works for Sreekrishnan and Sreekrishnan sees him as a brother. Appakkala is a servant of Sreekrishnan and has a rivalry with Manikyan. Once when they both are returning from a fair after shopping, Sreekrishnan sees Karthumpi and gets attracted. But then a fight erupts there and they all have to flee. Sreekrishnan flees alone, while Manikyan has to take Karthumpi with him. At night, he flees in the opposite direction and so loses his way. Karthumpi knows the way back, but she pretends she does not know it and enjoys the fun. Manikyan has to struggle to get out of that place. Manikyan says a crude word to a shop owner, an old lady and also peeks into a room with a married couple without consent. He is tied to a tree as punishment but then freed as he apologizes. It is Karthumpi who causes Manikyan to land in trouble because he didn't understand what the crude word meant. Karthumpi reveals that she is homeless and that her sister was murdered by a Mallikettu Policeman (Sharat Sexena) who is also her brother-in-law. During this time, they develop feelings for each other. Upon returning to Manikyan's village, Sreekrishnan proposes to her and plans to marry her. Manikyan is unable to resist as Sreekrishnan is like an elder brother to him. But Karthumpi opposes it. When Sreekrishnan gets to know about this, he becomes furious and sees Manikyan as his rival and tries to take revenge. One day, The Mallikettu policeman arrives and attacks Sreekrishnan. Manikyan interferes and engages in a duel with the policeman. Manikyan wins the duel. The policeman faints and Manikyan warns him that he would chop his limbs off the next time. Another day, Appakala spreads lies that Manikyan murdered Sreekrishnan upon finding his flip-flop and towel in the pond. Manikyan tries to prove his innocence to his father and mother, but they don't believe him. Karthumpi feels sympathetic towards Manikyan. Manikyan runs into Appakala and is furious with Appakala spreading lies about him. They both engage in a fight. The townsfolk chases Manikyan and Karthumpi through the woods and the water and through a dusty road. Finally, Sreekrishnan appears and everyone stops chasing. Everyone in town realizes that Appakalan has fooled them all. He is punished by making him do sit ups in front of everyone. Sreekrishnan realizes his mistakes and marries the woman who loved him for so long and also reconciles with Manikyan as he unites with Karthumpi.

Cast

as Manikyan *

Shobhana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...

as Karthumpi *

as Sreekrishnan Thampuran *

as Yeshodhamma *

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 ...

as Karthu *

as Ginjimooda Gandhari *

as Appakkala *

as Kannayyan *

Kuthiravattom 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, i ...

as Chakkutty *

Geetha Vijayan Geetha Vijayan (born 22 June 1972) is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam movies, a few Tamil and Hindi movies. She debuted in the 1990 Malayalam comedy- thriller film ''In Harihar Nagar''. She has since acted in more than 150 Malayalam ...

as Chinnu *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy better known by his stage name Nandu is an Indian actor primarily working in Malayalam films. Although he has been in the industry for more than 30 years, he is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal' s ''Spirit'', dir ...

as Thimmayan *

Sonia Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* Sonia ...

as Kuyilu * Khadeeja as Aadivasi *

as Mallikkettu

Soundtrack

R. D. Burman Rahul Dev Burman (27 June 1939 – 4 January 1994) was an Indian music director who is considered one of the most influential composers of India. From the 1960s to the 1990s, Burman composed musical scores for 331 films. Burman did major work w ...

was initially signed in as the music composer for the film, as revealed by Burman himself in an interview to journalists in Cochin, during his visit to the city, just a few weeks before his death. But he died before he could complete the compositions of the film and was later replaced. Berny-Ignatius was accused for plagiarism for at least three of the songs in the film. The song "Ente Manasinoru Naanam" is said to be an adaptation of the popular Hindi classic "Piya Milanko Jaana", sung by

Pankaj Mullick Pankaj Kumar Mullick (10 May 1905 – 19 February 1978) was an Indian music composer, playback singer and actor, who was a pioneer of film music in Bengali cinema and Hindi cinema at the advent of playback singing, as well as an early exponent ...

. Another song in the film, "Nila Pongal" is accused to be an imitation of a Bengali song, "Sun Mere Bandhu Re". The "Manam Thelinje vanne" song is a copy of the

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

song "Aasai Athigam" from the Tamil movie "

Marupadiyum ''Marupadiyum'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language drama film written, filmed and directed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Revathi, Nizhalgal Ravi, Arvind and Rohini. A remake of the 1982 Hindi film ''Arth'', it focuses on Thulasi, a wife ca ...

". Berny-Ignatius were awarded the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director The Kerala State Film Award The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and since 1998 the awards have be ...

despite the allegations, which created a controversy. Veteran music director

G. Devarajan Paravoor Govindan Devarajan (1927–2006), popularly known as G. Devarajan or Devarajan master, was an Indian music composer and Carnatic singer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Indian film music. He sco ...

returned three of the four state awards he had won claiming that the government was honouring pirates in film music.

Reception

The film ran for more than 250 days in theatres and was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year The film is remembered as one of the best comedy films in the history of

. Film critic

Kozhikodan K. Appukuttan Nair (1925–2007), better known as Kozhikodan, was a film critic and writer from Kerala, India. He began writing on films from the early 1950s. He started writing in ''Mathrubhumi'' and '' Chandrika'', and later became a regular co ...

included the film on his list of the 10 best Malayalam movies of all time.

Awards

;

* Best Production Design-

* Best Cinematographer-

;

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Malayalam films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year of release of ...

–

;

* Best Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value * Best Art Director –

* Best Music Director- Berny-Ignatius * Second Best Actor –

* Second Best Actress –

Remakes

The film was remade in

as '' Muthu'' (1995), in

as ''

'' (1998) by Priyadarshan himself, in

as ''

'' (2004). and in Bangla (

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

) as Raja (1999).

References

External links

* {{Priyadarshan 1994 romantic comedy films 1994 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Films whose cinematographer won the Best Cinematography National Film Award Malayalam films remade in other languages Films scored by Berny–Ignatius Films shot in Pollachi Films shot in Karnataka Films whose production designer won the Best Production Design National Film Award Indian romantic comedy films Films directed by Priyadarshan