''Varavelpu'' () is a 1989 Indian Malayalam-language black comedy film directed by Sathyan Anthikad and written by Sreenivasan, starring Mohanlal, Revathi, Sreenivasan, Thilakan, Murali, Innocent, and Jagadish. The film was produced by K. Rajagopal. The film depicted trade union problems plaguing Kerala in a satirical dark comedy. The film was based on a real-life incident in Sreenivasan's father's life. The film was an average grosser at box office but later created a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...

status and following. The movie was remade in Hindi as ''

Chal Chala Chal ''Chal Chala Chal'' is a 2009 Hindi-language family satire film with Govinda in the lead role. The film is a remake of the 1989 Malayalam-language Indian film ''Varavelpu'' starring Mohanlal and many scenes from another Malayalam film ''Ee Para ...

''.

Plot

Murali returns to his home town after spending 7 long years hardworking in gulf with an intention to settle down peacefully in his hometown. Much against the greedy wishes of his family members, he decides to buy a second hand bus that comes along with a route permit. This is when he faces a lot of hardships. Starting from an accident because of the inefficient driver, a cheating conductor, to a cunning union leader, Murali's life is taken for a toss with ever growing challenges one after the other. Then he gets an offer from a labour officer but he turns down saying that he has already lost this game and he tends to move for a better job. At last it is depicted as he leaves to Bombay.

Cast

* Mohanlal as Murali * Revathi as Rema * Sreenivasan as a vehicle inspector * Murali as Prabhakaran * Jagadish as Valsan * Thilakan as Ramakrishnan * Innocent as Chathukutty * Janardhanan as Kumaran * Oduvil Unnikrishnan as Narayanan * Mamukkoya as Hamsa *

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 ...

as Murali's uncle *

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 ...

as Santha * Meena as Rukmini * Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair as Govindan Nair * Bobby Kottarakkara as Pappan * Krishnan Kutty Nair as Rema's father *Praseetha Menon *Sindhu Varma

Production

The film was based on a real-life incident in Sreenivasan's father's life. Sathyan Anthikkad got the story idea while listening to Sreenivasan when he recalled how his family ended in financial debt as his

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

father was labeled a capitalist after he bought a bus.

Soundtrack

Reception

In 2003, the then Indian Prime Minister

Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (; 25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian politician who served three terms as the 10th prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months fr ...

mentioned the film and Mohanlal in his inaugural speech at the Global Investor Meet held in Kerala. He said: "I am told that there is a Malayalam movie called ''Varavelppu'' in which your famous actor Mohanlal acts as a Gulf-returned Keralite. He invests his savings in a small business venture with high hopes. But in the end, he is forced to close it down after going through many unpleasant experiences. Therefore, this conference should serve as an occasion for introspection".

References

External links

* {{Sathyan Anthikad 1989 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Films with screenplays by Sreenivasan Films directed by Sathyan Anthikad 1980s black comedy films Films shot in Ottapalam Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Thrissur Malayalam films remade in other languages 1989 comedy films Indian black comedy films Films scored by Johnson Indian business films Malayalam film score composers