''Poochakkoru Mookkuthi'' () is a

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

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

screwball comedy Screwball comedy is a subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1940s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary characteristi ...

film written and 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 ...

. The film features 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 ...

that includes

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 ...

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

Menaka Menaka () is an Apsara (heavenly nymph) in Hindu literature. Legends Menaka was born during the churning of the ocean by the devas and asuras. She is one of the most mesmerising apsaras (celestial nymphs) in the three worlds, with quick intel ...

M. G. Soman M. G. Soman (28 September 1941 – 12 December 1997) was an Indian actor and former Indian Air Force officer who appeared in Malayalam films. He was one among the leading star actors doing hero roles in Malayalam Cinema during the late 1970s an ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

, C. I. Paul,

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ' ...

and

Baiju Santhosh Baiju Santhosh Kumar, commonly referred to as Baiju, is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam films. He began his acting career in 1981, as a child artist in the film ''Maniyan Pilla Adhava Maniyan Pilla''. Since then he has acted in more than ...

. ''Poochakkoru Mookkuthi'' marks the directorial debut of

, the first collaboration of Priyadarshan and

as director and actor. Their frequent collaborator

M. G. Sreekumar Malabar Gopalan Sreekumar (born 25 May 1957), better known as M.G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 2000 ...

made his Malayalam debut as a playback singer through the film. The film was released on 17 March 1984 by Dinny Films and is regarded as one of the landmark films in Malayalam cinema. The success of the film triggered a deluge of

films in Malayalam in mid-1980s. The movie was remade in five languages. The core plot of the movie was based on the 1980 Telugu movie ''Gopala Rao Gari Ammayi''. The movie also borrowed plot elements from

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

's play ''The Strange Gentleman''.

Plot

Revathi comes to the city from a small town in search of a job and to have a good life and as it is with everyone, her problem starts with finding a house. Shyam wants to become a singer. His parents are against his wish to become a singer. So he runs away from home and needs a shelter. Revathi accidentally meets Shyam, who too is in search of a house through the common milk-boy, Chikku. Chikku offers them both a house to rent if they are ready to pose as husband and wife in front of the landlord. Supran, a miserly moneylender who doesn't trust his much younger wife Kousalya is their landlord. Revathi in search of a job, meets Ravunni Menon, a rich man who owns a bungalow in the heart of the city. Ravunni Menon stays with his wife whose name too is Revathi. Gopalakrishnan needs some investment to come up in business and life. But to get started, he ends up having to rob his stingy father of money that the latter had hidden away out of sight of tax authorities. He is in search of a rich woman he can marry. Accidentally, Revathi meets Gopalakrishnan who has come to Ravunni Menon's house to repair the electronic equipment, which he had sold to him. Gopalakrishnan thinks that Revathi is Ravunni Menon's daughter and her beauty enchants him. Revathi learns that there is a job in Gopalakrishnan's showroom and manages to get a job with him by playing along with his mistaken belief that she is Ravunni Menon's daughter. She is aided in this subterfuge by the fact that she shares the same name as Ravunni Menon's wife and all of his business interests are named after "Revathi". After office hours, Gopalakrishnan drops Revathi outside Ravunni Menon's house, thinking it to be her house. She always enters the bungalow through the front gate and skips out through the gate itself after hiding in the garden until Gopalakrishnan drives away. Ravunni Menon's wife, Revathi, sees her coming and going out of the bungalow and starts suspecting her husband of an affair. Gopalakrishnan frequently visits the bungalow to visit Revathi, who is never there, and Ravunni Menon thinks his wife is having an affair with Gopalakrishnan. Further her encounter with " Thenga" Govindan Pillai makes the older Revathi believe that her husband has sons and daughters out of wedlock and, thus, is quite capable of another affair now. Shyam in the meantime begins falling in love with Revathi and to make her jealous, he pretends that he is attracted to Kousalya, who in turn thinks this to be true and is ready to elope with him after robbing her miser husband. In the climax, Gopalakrishnan sends a letter to Ravunni Menon that he is in love with Revathy, who considers it to for his wife. In the confusion Revathy reveals her identity. After a complicated fight, Revathy decides to spend the rest of her life with Shyam rather than with Gopalakrishnan, who wishes them luck. All ends good as Ravunni Menon and his wife Revathy decide to not separate, as they had planned earlier

Cast

as Gopalakrishnan *

as Shyam *

as Revathi *

as Ravunni Menon *

as Shankaramangalathil Revathi Amma, Ravunni Menon's wife *

as Hari *

as Chellappan *

as Kuttan ('Cherian' Nair) *

as Chikku *

Soorya Soorya is an Indian actress who appeared in Malayalam and Tamil films. She was a prominent actress in 1980s. She was well noted for her glamorous roles. She debuted with the film '' Parankimala'' in 1981. Filmography Malayalam *'' Parankimal ...

as Revathi's friend *

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 Adv. Sankaran Kutty, Gopalakrishnan's father *

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 Supran *

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 "Shakthi" Raghavan Pillai, a Police Constable * C. I. Paul as "Thenga" Govinda Pillai * Ambalapuzha Raju as Chellappaiyer, Lodge owner *

as Narayanan *

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 town, ...

as Kalyani, Gopalakrishnan's mother *

Thodupuzha Vasanthi Thodupuzha Vasanthi was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. She appeared in over 450 movies and also in 16 tele-serials and 100 plays. She was a theater artist, before starting with small roles in movies. Her first full length ...

as Kousalya, Supran's wife * V. D. Rajappan as Keshu Pillai * Santhosh as Santhosh, Ravunni Menon's son

Reception and legacy

The film was distributed by Dinny Films, it was a commercial success and ran for more than 100 days in the theatres. ''Poochakkoru Mookkuthi'' is regarded as one of the landmark films in Malayalam cinema. The success of the film triggered a deluge of

films in Malayalam in mid-1980s.

Soundtrack

Remakes

The film partly inspired the Tamil movie ''

Thangamani Rangamani Thangamani Rangamani is a Tamil film, directed by Ramanarayanan. Murali and S. Ve. Shekher are, with S. S. Chandran, Kovai Sarala, Pallavi and Devisri in supporting roles. It is an unofficial remake of the 1984 Malayalam movie Poochakkoru Moo ...

'' (1989), in Hindi as ''

Hungama Hungama may refer to: * ''Hungama'' (1971 film), a Bollywood comedy film * ''Hungama'' (2003 film), a Bollywood comedy * ''Hungama'' (2005 film), a Telugu comedy film * Hungama TV, an Indian children's television channel * Hungama Digital Media ...

'' (2003), in Telugu as '' Intlo Srimathi Veedhilo Kumari'' (2004), in Kannada as ''Jootata'' (2005) and in Bengali as ''

Le Halua Le ''Le Halua Le'' is a 2012 Indian Bengali-language comedy film directed by Raja Chanda, starring Mithun Chakraborty. The film is the remake of successful film Hungama and Poochakkoru Mookkuthi directed by Priyadarshan. Cast * Mithun Chak ...

'' (2012).

References

External links

* {{Priyadarshan 1980s Malayalam-language films 1984 directorial debut films 1984 films Indian screwball comedy films Malayalam films remade in other languages Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Films directed by Priyadarshan Films scored by M. G. Radhakrishnan