''Yakshiyum Njaanum'' () is a 2010 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 wa ...

-language

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

written and directed by

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar (born 16 May 1957), professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. Early life Vinayan is from ...

. The film was produced by Rubon Gomez through the company RG Productions India. It stars Goutham P. Krishna,

Meghna Raj The Meghna River ( bn, মেঘনা নদী) is one of the major rivers in Bangladesh, one of the three that form the Ganges Delta, the largest delta on earth, which fans out to the Bay of Bengal. A part of the Surma-Meghna River System, ...

Thilakan Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...

, and Spadikam George. The film's original score and soundtrack was composed by Sajan Madhav. ''Yakshiyum Njanum'' was Vinayan's third horror film after ''

Aakasha Ganga ''Aakasha Ganga'' is a 1999 Indian Malayalam-language horror- thriller film directed by Vinayan, starring Divya Unni and Mukesh and produced by Aakash Films. It was dubbed in Tamil as ''Avala Aaviya'' and in Hindi as ''Maaya Ka Saaya''. A seq ...

'' and '' Vellinakshatram''. ''Yakshiyum Njanum'' is the first Malayalam film to be shot in Red One camera.

Plot

The movie engages with social issues through the horror and fantasy genres. Spadikam George is the lead actor of this film. The film runs around the ghost Athira played by

, Syam (

Gautham Krishn Gautham P. Krishna is an Indian actor who has appeared in lead roles of Malayalam as well as Tamil language films. He was introduced by director Vinayan with his 2010 surprise hit ''Yakshiyum Njanum''. Film career Gautham was selected to play ...

) plays hero. Jubil Rajan P Dev (son of late veteran Actor

Rajan P Dev Rajan P. Dev (20 May 1951 – 29 July 2009) was an Indian film and stage actor. He was born in Cherthala in the Alappuzha district of the former state Thiru-Kochi (present day Kerala). He had acted in over 500 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telug ...

as Renjith illain Thilikan enacts the role of an astrologer, Narayanji. Mala Aravidan as Vatmeki, an evil witch. Captain Raju as Athiras father, Sudeer as Menon, Parur Ramachandran as Gounder. Syam commits a crime and flee to the estate bungalow of Minister Madhavan (Spadikam George), where he hides. There he befriends Athira (Meghna Raj) and falls in love with her. The estate bungalow where he is staying is well known for the presence of ghosts and it is rumored that people who go there will never leave the bungalow alive. Later Syam learns that Athira is a ghost seeking vengeance against who killed her, her lover Ananthan and her father in the past and agrees to help her to accomplish her mission. In the meanwhile Madhavan plan to conduct a Pooja to permanently destroy the ghost of Athira. Athira manages to kill Valmeki with the help of Syam, but could not withstand the efforts of Narayanji and is destroyed permanently. Before vanishing she expresses one last wish to kill the Madhavan. Syam is soon arrested by the police and brought to the bungalow. There he learns about the death of his sister and his mother was imprisoned. Furious, he kills Madhavan thereby fulfilling the last wish of Athira. Narayanji says that now if the ghost wants, she come resume life in her human form and Madhavan asked for the death. The movie ends with Athira's soul smiling at Syam, assuring that she will return.

Cast

Meghana Raj Meghana Sunder Raj Sarja (born 3 May 1990) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Malayalam and Kannada films along with a few Telugu and Tamil films. She made her acting debut in the 2009 Telugu film ''Bendu Apparao R.M.P''. She has won ...

as Aathira *

as Syam *

as Narayanji * Jubil Rajan P Dev as Renjith *Ricky as Johnny * Spadikam George as Minister Madhavan *Sudheer Sukumaran *

Mala Aravindan Mala Aravindan (15 January 1939 – 28 January 2015) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his work as a comedian and character artist in Malayalam films. He has acted in over 500 films. Early life He was born in Vadavucode, Ernakulam d ...

as Vatmeki *Sariga *Shobith Rdx

Production

The shooting of the film commenced on 2 December 2009 at Marine Drive,

Vaikom Vaikom, , is a municipal town and a capital town of Vaikom Taluk, situated in the northwest of Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. The town is also noted for its role in the Indian independence movement for being the venue of Vai ...

, Muhamma,

Cherthala Cherthala, , (formerly Shertalai, Shertallai or Shertallay) is a Municipal town and a Taluk located at National highway 66 in the district of Alappuzha, in the state of Kerala, India. Cherthala is the satellite town and industrial hub of Alap ...

, Vypin Beach, uttalam, Ambasamudram, Achankovil, Thenmala, and Palaruvi. All sound was recorded at Chitranjali Studio Kochi Sound Recordist Mebinsreejith and D The film stirred much controversy because director Vinayan was against FEFKA, the directors' association of Kerala. The shooting of the film was interrupted due to external interference. Actors Jagathi Sreekumar, Guinness Pakru and Indrans stepped out from the film after the pressure from film associations. The film was not allowed to censor at first, but director Vinayan consulted the high Court of Kerala and he won the case.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for the film was scored by débutante Sajan Madhav, with lyrics penned 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 K ...

and

. The composer is the son of the late acclaimed tunemaker

Raveendran Madhavan Raveendran ( ml, മാധവൻ രവീന്ദ്രൻ ), (born Kulathupuzha, Kollam, 9 November 1943 – died Chennai, Tamil Nadu, 3 March 2005), fondly known as ''Raveendran Master'', was a popular South Indian music composer a ...

. The album featured four songs and the

karaoke Karaoke (; ; , clipped compound of Japanese ''kara'' "empty" and ''ōkesutora'' "orchestra") is a type of interactive entertainment usually offered in clubs and bars, where people sing along to recorded music using a microphone. The music is ...

of them and it got mostly positive reviews.

Reception

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 ...

wrote that the film is "repeating those same old tricks in a new format! Still, if you are willing to leave your brains back home and set your mind just to have some fun at the theatre, well, ''Yakshiyum Njanum'' could turn out to be a watchable fare". Rediff.com stated: "''Yakshiyum Njanum'' is a substandard fare and nothing more". Nowrunning.com wrote "Vinayan has moved miles ahead of ''

'', and has tried to bring in a few fresh scares into his new film ... in spite of all this, there is no genuine scariness in it", but added that "Meghna who plays the Yakshi is a charmer".

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1776363 * http://yakshiyumnjanum.info * http://popcorn.oneindia.in/title/6951/yakshiyum-njanum.html * http://www.nowrunning.com/movie/7293/malayalam/yakshiyum-njanum/index.htm 2010 films 2010s Malayalam-language films Indian horror films Indian ghost films Films shot in Thrissur Films shot in Kochi Films shot in Alappuzha Films shot in Kollam Films directed by Vinayan 2010 horror films