''Aarambham'' is a 1982
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 ...
film, written by
Cochin Haneefa
Muhammed Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010), better known by his stage name Cochin Haneefa, was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on t ...
, directed by
Joshiy
Joshiy (born 18 July 1952) is an Indian film director and producer from Varkala in Kerala who works predominantly in the Malayalam film industry. He made his debut with ''Tiger Salim'' (1978) and has directed over 80 films. He has also direc ...
and produced by Thiruppathi Chettiyar. with an ensemble cast starring
Prem Nazir
Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 7 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the history of Indi ...
,
Madhu
Madhu ( Sanskrit: ) is a word used in several Indo-Aryan languages meaning ''honey'' or '' sweet''. It is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*médʰu'', whence English ''mead''.
Metaphorical use
''Madhu'' has been used for millenni ...
,
Sukumaran
Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the ...
,
M. G. Soman,
K. P. Ummer,
Srividya
Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...
,
Sumalatha
Sumalatha (born 27 August 1963) is an Indian actress, politician who is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Mandya, Karnataka. She has acted in more than 220 films in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. She gaine ...
and
Rajalakshmi. The film has a musical score by unusually using four music directors, namely
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 ...
,
A. T. Ummer
Anjukandy Thalakkal Ummer ( ml, അഞ്ചുകണ്ടി തളയ്ക്കൽ ഉമ്മർ) (10 March 1933 – 18 October 2001) was a Malayalam music composer from Kerala, India. He is known for composing many soft melodies for 174 M ...
,
K. J. Joy and
Shankar–Ganesh
Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years.
Career
They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 an ...
, each of whom directed one song each. The cinematography was handled by N. A. Thara, while editing was done by
K. Sankunni.
''Aarambham'' was released in theatres on 1 September 1982 on the occasion of
Onam
Onam ( ) is an annual Indian harvest festival celebrated predominantly by the Hindus of Kerala. A major annual event for Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events.
Onam commemorates Vaman ...
. Upon release, the film received highly positive reviews from critics. The film was a super hit, even as it faced stiff competition from the high budget Prem Nazir starrer ''
Padayottam''. The film was a breakthrough for Joshiy.
''Aaramabham'' was later remade in Hindi by
Joshiy
Joshiy (born 18 July 1952) is an Indian film director and producer from Varkala in Kerala who works predominantly in the Malayalam film industry. He made his debut with ''Tiger Salim'' (1978) and has directed over 80 films. He has also direc ...
himself in 1984, called ''
Dharm Aur Qanoon'', starring
Rajesh Khanna
Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a recor ...
which was a critical and commercial success. The film bought
Joshiy
Joshiy (born 18 July 1952) is an Indian film director and producer from Varkala in Kerala who works predominantly in the Malayalam film industry. He made his debut with ''Tiger Salim'' (1978) and has directed over 80 films. He has also direc ...
national recognition. It was remade in Tamil too as ''
Ezhuthatha Sattangal
''Ezhuthatha Sattangal'' () is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language film directed by K. Shankar, starring Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar and M. N. Nambiar. It is a remake of the Malayalam film ''Aarambham'' (1982). The film was released on 15 August 1984. T ...
'' which was directed by veteran director
K. Shankar, with
Sivaji Ganesan
Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Gan ...
in the lead role. The Tamil version was also a major commercial success.
Plot
Justice Devarajan lives in a bungalow with his wife, Sharda, and a son named Rajan. Diwan was a very famous advocate in his younger days and today has become a name to reckon with. His admirers include the superintendent of police Kader whom he knows since his younger days. Diwan has been appointed as the judge in the court. Diwan's wife Shanta considers Rahim Khan as her brother. Rahim visits Diwan's house daily to give her flowers to wear and for presenting them to her house temple.
Diwan doesn't get along with his son Rajan even though both love each other a lot. Eventually Rajan moves out to live in a nearby slum area with Rahim in his house. Dr. Bashir Khan is Rahim's brother and lives in a bungalow next to Rahim's small house. It's not that Rahim and Bashir are not attached to each other: Bashir has become a doctor thanks to Rahim's efforts. Rahim wants to spend the rest of life staying in that small house, as this is the house where his wife died. It is also a practice that Diwan, Rahim and Shardha have breakfast together in the morning and sometimes Kader joins them at Diwan's house. Bashir has been in love with Reshma since their school days and this fact is unknown only to Rahim Khan. All others including Reshma's father Kader and his closest friend Justice Diwan and his family is aware of them being in love.
Bashir Khan hopes to marry Reshma soon. Meanwhile, Rajan starts loving a fisherman's girl named Shanta. Rahim Khan makes a living for himself by collecting Hafta from the fisherman; he saves them from the Bhuree and his men who keep attacking the fisherman for they want them to vacate the premises and want to construct a building complex. Bhuree's men fear Rahim Khan so they give warnings to fishermen in his absence from the village. Later in a case, Diwan sentences Tejaa, the head of the group of Buree and his men to life imprisonment. But Tejaa manages to get bail with help of his advocate. After coming out of the prison, Tejaa decides to take revenge from Diwan. Within a few days Dr. John, Bashir's senior, is killed and the evidence points at Bashir being at the place of crime (the worker had seen Bashir with a knife covered in blood). Bashir is arrested and, in the court, Justice Diwan finds him guilty after examining the witnesses and orders that he be hanged. Bashir gets lodged in jail. Rahim asks Diwan to help Bashir and to prove somehow that he is innocent. Diwan says he knows Bashir being Rahim's brother and being a doctor cannot commit the crime, but he as a judge has to announce judgments according to evidence. Bhuree has an eye on Shanta, too, and so decides to give her father much wine. When he is intoxicated, he rapes Shanta. The next day Bhurre is found dead, and the evidence points to Rajan, who is arrested and produced before Justice Diwan, who finds him guilty, and sentences him to death. Rajan says to his mother that he has not killed Bhuree and that he would have been happy to kill Bhuree.
An alteration takes place between Sharda and Diwan where Diwan shows his helplessness and he says he prefers duty over attachments. Later on Rahim finds his house burned down and is out on the street after the destruction of his house. The rest of the story is about how Rajan and Bashir prove their innocence, who killed Bhuree and Dr. John, why were they killed and by whom, how Rahim tries his best to find out who is the real culprit who is trying to frame Devarajan and his family in false charges and how Diwan sticks to his principles of law and to what extent he goes to ensure that justice is delivered.
Cast
*
Prem Nazir
Prem Nazir (born Abdul Khader; 7 April 1926 – 16 January 1989) was an Indian actor known as one of Malayalam cinema's definitive leading men of his generation. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential actors in the history of Indi ...
as Devarajan
*
Madhu
Madhu ( Sanskrit: ) is a word used in several Indo-Aryan languages meaning ''honey'' or '' sweet''. It is ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European ''*médʰu'', whence English ''mead''.
Metaphorical use
''Madhu'' has been used for millenni ...
as Moidu
*
Sukumaran
Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the ...
as Rajan
*
Srividya
Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...
as Sharada
*
M. G. Soman as Bhasheer
*
K. P. Ummer as Khader
*
Sumalatha
Sumalatha (born 27 August 1963) is an Indian actress, politician who is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Mandya, Karnataka. She has acted in more than 220 films in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. She gaine ...
as Santha
*
Rajya Lakshmi as Rasiya
*
Jose Prakash
Jose Prakash (14 April 1925 – 24 March 2012) was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Malayalam cinema. He was a singer turned actor who had appeared in more than 300 films mostly in antagonist roles. He was awarded with the J. C. Daniel ...
as Sebastian
*
Sankaradi as Velu
*
Janardanan
Janardhanan Nair (born 5 May 1946) is an Indian actor, producer and a former Indian Airforce personnel who predominantly acts in Malayalam films. He acted in his first feature film ''Adyathe Kadha'', directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan in 1971, he ...
as Lazar
*
C. I. Paul
C. I. Paul (1944 – 14 December 2005) was a Malayalam film and television actor.
He was a member of the working party led by Fr. Vadakkan and came to acting through the famous dramas by V. L. Jose. He was well appreciated for his perform ...
as John
*
Kaduvakulam Antony
Kaduvakkulam Antony (9 November 1936 – 4 February 2001) was an Indian actor from Kerala who performed in more than 300 films as a comedian during the 1960s and 1970s. One journalist considers him to have been one of the best and most popular ...
as Anthappan
*
Manavalan Joseph
Manavalan Joseph was a Malayalam film actor. He is an actor who worked in many movies during the 1950s and 1960s. He died in 1986
Background
Manavalan Joseph was born at Fort Kochi then in the Malabar District of the Madras Presidency of Britis ...
as Sankaran
*
Cochin Haneefa
Muhammed Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010), better known by his stage name Cochin Haneefa, was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on t ...
as Gopinath
*
Prathapachandran
Prathapachandran (1941–2004) was an Indian actor, who worked predominantly in Malayalam film industry, though he acted in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as well. He known for the portrayal of villainous and character roles in over 300 movies. ...
as Police officer
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 ...
,
A. T. Ummer
Anjukandy Thalakkal Ummer ( ml, അഞ്ചുകണ്ടി തളയ്ക്കൽ ഉമ്മർ) (10 March 1933 – 18 October 2001) was a Malayalam music composer from Kerala, India. He is known for composing many soft melodies for 174 M ...
,
K. J. Joy and
Shankar–Ganesh
Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies for around 50 years.
Career
They started as assistants to Tamil music composers M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy in 1964 an ...
and the lyrics were written by
Poovachal Khader.
Release and reception
The film was released on 1 September 1982 on the occasion of Onam. The film was praised by critics and audiences alike. The film was praised for its script, direction and the performance of the cast. The film was a super hit and went on to become the third highest grossing Malayalam film of 1982.
References
External links
*
{{Joshiy
1982 films
1980s Malayalam-language films
Films scored by Shankar–Ganesh
Malayalam films remade in other languages
Films directed by Joshiy