''Mazha Peyyunnu Maddalam Kottunnu'' () is a 1986 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

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

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 ...

and written by

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 ' ...

from a story by

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar (born 12 June 1955) known mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, television presenter and former politician. He has starred in over 375 Malayalam films and 2 Hindi films. He is best known for his comi ...

. It stars an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

led by

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 ...

Mukesh Mukesh is an epithet for the Hindu god Shiva, and literally means "conqueror of the Muka demon". It also means god of 3 worlds, heaven, hell & earth, which in turn represents Hindu god Shiva. It is commonly used as a male given name in India. Peopl ...

Jagathi Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decades. ...

Maniyanpilla Raju Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam:മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.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 ...

and Lissy.

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

appears in a brief cameo role. The film was one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of the year. It is now considered one of the best comedy films in Malayalam cinema. The film was remade in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

as '' Saradaga Kasepu'' and in Tamil as ''Manandhal Mahadevan'' (1989).

Plot

Madhavan, now liked to be known as M. A Dhavan, is back in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

after completing his business studies in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. His schoolmate Shambhu is now working as a

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

at his house, whom the now vain and snobbish Madhavan treats with disdain. Madhavan's parents want him to marry Shobha, the only daughter of Sardar Krishna Kurup, a wealthy and aristocratic businessman. Madhavan, who wants to observe his fiancée from a distance, decides to go to her house disguised as the driver and makes his driver Shambhu act as Madhavan. Just minutes after they set out from their house, his parents telephone Krishna Kurup about their son's scheme. Various mishaps on way end up with Madhavan discarding his plan and deciding to visit as himself. Unaware of the change in plan, Sardar Krishna Kurup and wife have the driver Shambhu mistaken for the prospective groom and Madhavan as the driver. The prospective in-laws dote over Shambhu, ignoring Madhavan, who is unaware of the impression that Kurup and wife are under. The situation gets tougher for Madhavan, due to his innate eccentric behavior towards the Kurup family. In the meantime Shobha, who also mistakes Shambhu as the fiancé, falls in love with him. At the same time, Sardar Koma Kurup, cousin to Sardar Krishna Kurup, is in constant fight with Krishna Kurup for past long years. Both are trying to capture the power at the Nethaji Club, a reputed social club, for personal reasons. Damodaran, a.k.a. Damu, impersonates a lawyer and enters the house of Koma Kurup and wins his trust. But the real intention of Damu is to kill Koma Kurup with the help of a doctor, making it look like an accident, and marry his daughter Aruna, so that he could grab the whole property. But one after another, the attempts of Damu to kill Koma Kurup fails, with each time, Damu getting himself nearly killed in the process. It was then, Shivan, a friend to both Damu and Shambhu, arrives at the house of Koma Kurup, apparently under the guise of Damu's imaginary brother who is apparently a heart patient. He instantly succeeds in winning the heart of Aruna, destroying the plans of Damu. Thus the two love stories, one between Shambhu and Shobha and the other between Shivan and Aruna, blooms side by side. This chain of events pit Shambhu and Shivan against Madhavan and Damu respectively. Unable to bear Shambhu's progress, Madhavan hires Kadathanatt Pappan Gurukkal, a known goon to beat up Shambhu, but instead, the goons themselves get beaten up by the adept Shambhu. This incident makes Shambhu to go all out against Madhavan and force Krishna Kurup to conduct the marriage within three days. But, everything turns more messy as the parents of Madhavan make a surprise visit at the house of Sardar Krishna Kurup. They find the foul play of Shambhu, and Krishna Kurup, who realizes the mistake decides to get his daughter married to Madhavan. Shobha, who by this time is in love with Shambhu is adamant that she would not marry Madhavan. The marriage venue and date are fixed. At the same time, Sardar Koma Kurup also finds out that his daughter is in love with Shivan, who is rather an adamant sickly fellow, falls for Damu's words and drive Shivan out. At the marriage venue, both Shambhu and Shivan are denied entry. They call up the police by informing that there is gold hidden by Krishna Kurup at the marriage hall. The Police enter the venue and then happens a long fight packed with several comic incidents. In the end, with the help of police inspector, Shambhu marries Shobha and Shivan marries Aruna. Everything ends well and both couples start their married life with the blessing of all others including the then dejected Madhavan and Damu.

Cast

as Shambu *

as Shivan *

as Madhavan / M A Dhavan *

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...

as Sardar Krishna Kurup *

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 ...

as Sardar Koma Kuruppu * Lissy as Shobha *

Lalithasree Lalithasree (born 30 October 1957) is an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in more than 450 films. She acts mainly in supporting roles. She is known for her comedy roles with Jagathy Sreekumar. Personal ...

as Thankam *

Priya Priya may refer to: * Priya (given name), a given name of Indian origin * Priya (actress) Karpagavalli better known by her stage name Priya is an Indian actress who worked on South Indian movies. She was a prominent lead actress during the ...

as Aruna * C. I. Paul as KT Nair *

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 ...

as Devaki *

Bahadoor Padiyath Kochumoideen Kunjalu (1930 22 May 2000), known by his stage name Bahadoor, was an Indian actor and comedian who, along with Adoor Bhasi, redefined the way in which comedy and funny scenes were perceived in the Malayalam cinema. They ...

as Jagannathan, Damu's uncle *

Poojappura Ravi Raveendran Nair, known by his stage name Poojappura Ravi is an Indian actor, primarily concentrating in Malayalam films doing comedy roles. He was a stage actor and was a part of ''Kalanilyam Drama Vision'', the famous drama institution. He sta ...

as Chandrappan, a doctor *

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 to ...

as Kadathanattu Pappan Gurukal *

in a

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...

as a sub-inspector of police *

in a cameo appearance as a wedding guest at the end

Production

The story of this film was by

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

K. J. Joy KJ Joy is a music director for the Malayalam film industry. He has composed music for 71 films. He began his career as music director in 1974, after many years as recording accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', fr ...

and the lyrics were written by Panthalam Sudhakaranand.

Reception

Upon release, this film was a huge hit at the box office. Without a strong plot or any emotional scenes, it is a senseless comedy flick. It is usually categorized as one of the best comedy films to have ever happened 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 repeated telecasts on TV channels has made it a

cult film A cult film or cult movie, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage ...

References

External links

* {{Priyadarshan 1986 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Films with screenplays by Sreenivasan Indian comedy films Films directed by Priyadarshan