''Chantha'' () is a 1995 Indian

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 ...

-language

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

directed by

Sunil Sunil (सुनील) is a first name for males, often found in the South Asian community. The Sanskrit word ' means "dark", "very blue", and is also an epithet of Krishna. Notable people * Sunil (actor), Indian Telugu film actor * Sunil ( ...

and written by

Robin Thirumala Thirumalayil Robinson better known as Robin Thirumala ( born on 30 May 1964) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, music composer, lyricist and founder of the ''4 am Club Foundation''. Career Thirumala started his career as a journalist in ...

. The film stars

Babu Antony Babu Antony (born 22 February) is an Indian-American actor and martial artist, who works primarily in Malayalam cinema. He has also acted in several Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sinhalese, Hindi and English films. He started his career doing anta ...

Thilakan Palappurathu Keshavan 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 appeara ...

Sathaar Sathaar (25 May 1952 – 17 September 2019) was an Indian actor who primarily worked in Malayalam films. He made his acting debut with M. Krishnan Nair's ''Bharyaye Avashyamundu'' (1975). He became a hero in 1976, with '' Anaavaranam'', direc ...

and

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

. This was the debut film of M. Jayachandran as a music composer. ''Chantha'' was released on 4 August 1995 and became a commercial success at the box office.

Plot

Sekhar Joseph is an honest and upright cop in

Kozhikode Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

, who imprisons a corrupt minister Keshavan Nair's nephew Renjith for running over a child in the street due to his drunk driving.

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

Ravishankar tries to get Sekhar to release him, but Sekhar refuses. Later, Keshavan Nair visits the station and commends Sekhar for his honest actions, while simultaneously reprimanding Ravishankar. At the city market, Mammali is a shrewd trader, who brings in people from the outside to unload material for his shop against the market's rules. Sulthan is a local ruffian and the leader of the market who confronts Mammali's men and drives them away. Mammali's partner Ummer Haji, a cunning businessman, tries to influence Sulthan but to no avail. Ummer Haji makes Mammali file a complaint to the police against Sulthan. When Sekhar Joseph tries to arrest Sulthan, he cannot take him away from the market due to stiff opposition from the masses, who regard him as their saviour. Ummer Haji tries to take over a building in the market for his activities, but is humiliated and driven away by Sulthan and his gang. Enraged, Ummer Haji calls for their leader Alexander, who has Mammali stabbed to death by his accomplices and plans to pin the murder on Sulthan. However, this plan is foiled by Merlin Joseph, a reporter and Sekhar Joseph's sister, when she takes a photo of Alexander's henchman stabbing Mammali, thus confirming Sulthan's innocence. In order to finish Merlin, Alexander and his gang break into Sekhar's home and kill his family by poisoning them. Sekhar goes to question Alexander at his house, where he is beaten by his men and loses one of his legs. Left for dead on the roadside, Sulthan saves Sekhar and takes him to the hospital, where he then saves Sekhar from the doctor, who also tries to kill him on Alexander's orders. Sulthan brings Sekhar to his house, where he slowly starts recovering with Merlin and Sulthan's mother's care. Ummar Haji has an altercation with Keshavan Nair since he is not doing anything in his capacity to move things at the market to Alexander and the gang's favor. To meet his end, he has Renjith humiliate Keshavan Nair at his residence after a press conference by getting a notorious prostitute named Ramlabeevi inside his bedroom and making it public. Keshavan Nair resigns out of party pressure and goes back to the market where he started his public life. Sulthan and Sekhar capture Ramlabeevi, where they beat and record a confession, but Alexander finishes Ramlabeevi while she is on her way to the court. To further attack Sulthan, Alexander kills his favorite child named Thithibeevi with a

time bomb A time bomb (or a timebomb, time-bomb) is a bomb whose detonation is triggered by a timer. The use or attempted use of time bombs has been for various purposes including insurance fraud, terrorism, assassination, sabotage and warfare. They are a ...

. Sulthan gets enraged and starts killing Alexander's gang, including Renjith and Ummer Haji. The police try to find Sulthan by raiding the market, but are unsuccessful. Alexander murders Keshavan Nair when he unsuccessfully tries to question him about Sulthan's whereabouts. Alexander kidnaps Sultan's mother and sister, where Sulthan finishes Alexander and his men with the help of Sekhar Joseph.

Cast

as Sulthan *

as Keshavan Nair *

Ravishanker *

as Mammali * Devan as Alexander *

Lalu Alex Lalu Alex is an Indian film actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning four decades, Lalu Alex has acted in over 250 films and is known for his character roles, comic roles and antagonistic roles in the Malayalam film in ...

as CI Sekher Joseph *

Mohini Mohini (Sanskrit: मोहिनी, ') is the Hindu goddess of enchantment. She is the only female avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. She is portrayed as a ''femme fatale'', an enchantress, who maddens lovers and demons, sometimes leading them ...

as Merlin Joseph *

Narendra Prasad Raghava Kurup Narendra Prasad (26 December 1946 3 November 2003) was an Indian actor, playwright, director, teacher and literary critic. He was born at Mavelikkara in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Appreciated for his body language a ...

in a cameo appearance *

Sadiq Sadiq may refer to: Places * Sadiq (town), Faridkot district, Punjab, India Punjab () is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab, Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the ...

as Mayinkutty *

Renuka Mahur Renuka, also known as Yellamma Devi, is a Hindu mother goddess venerated predominantly in the South Indian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra. She is regarded as the mother of Parashurama, the six ...

as Sherly * T. S. Krishnan as Renjith *

Kozhikode Narayanan Nair Kozhikode Narayanan Nair is an Indian actor who appears in Malayalam films. He has acted in more than 300 films. He was a stage actor before entering Malayalam film industry. His first film was '' Aabhijathyam'' (1970), and he is also remembered ...

as P. C. Gopi * Abu Salim as Williams * VK Sreeraman as Ummer Haji *

Santhakumari Santha Kumari (born Vellaala Subbamma; 17 May 1920 – 16 January 2006) was an Indian musical artist and actress. She was married to the Telugu film director and producer P. Pullayya. Early years Vellaala Subbamma was born in Proddatur tow ...

*Anila Sreekumar as Laila *Baby Ambili as Thithibeevi *Bindu Varappuzha as Ramlabeevi

Soundtrack

The music was composed by M. Jayachandran and the lyrics were written by

Gireesh Puthenchery Girish Puthenchery was a noted Malayalam lyricist, poet, scriptwriter and screenwriter, esteemed for his pivotal role as a lyricist in Malayalam cinema. He was often hailed as the aristocratic lyricist of Malayalam and was admired for his uniqu ...

. The background score was done by Rajamani.

Box office

''Chantha'' became the third highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year behind '' The King'' and ''

Spadikam ''Spadikam'' () is a 1995 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed and co-written by Bhadran and produced by R. Mohan through Shogun Films. Starring Mohanlal, Thilakan, Urvasi and Spadikam George, the film revolves around Thomas ...

''.

References

External links

{{IMDb title, 0355313 1995 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Indian action films Indian gangster films Films shot in Kozhikode Films scored by M. Jayachandran