We are back with a new episode of #FilmyFriday. ETimes presents - #FilmyFriday, wherein we recommend our readers one Malayalam movie, every week. And for this week, we have chosen a political
satire
‘
Vellanakalude Nadu
’.
Direction: PriyadarshanScript: Sreenivasan
Cast: Mohanlal, Shobhana, Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, M. G. Soman, Sreenivasan, Karamana Janardanan Nair, Maniyanpilla Raju, Sukumari, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Lizy
Release date: 9 December 1988
C Pavithran Nair (Mohanlal), the protagonist of ‘Vellanakalude Nadu’ is a small-time contractor from a well-off family. His elder brother Radhakrishnan (Karamana Janardanan Nair) is an influential contractor, is married to Sarojam (KPAC Lalitha). Pavithran aka CP has an elder sister, who is married to Prabhakaran (MG Soman), a municipal engineer, and younger sister (Lizzy) is in college. CP’s dad Puthanpurackal Chandrashekharan Nair (Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair) is a retired magistrate and his mom (Sukumari) a homemaker.
A day in CP’s life begins with a ‘detailed and loud prayer’ to Lord Krishna. The prayer is so loud that not just the family members, but even God would want to run away from the village. CP is in real trouble as his bills are yet to be sanctioned by the authorities and he is running short of materials for the road construction. Radhakrishnan, his wife Sarojam, elder sister, and her husband despises CP since he is irresponsible. Though CP isn’t irresponsible, the struggles he faces as a budding contractor, including borrowing money from every possible person alive on earth. As the dawn breaks, CP rushes to the road, where construction is progressing. His friend Gopi (Maniyanpilla Raju) is the work supervisor, and Kumaran (Jagadish), is the head of the workers. From the shortage of materials for construction to the unavailability of restaurants nearby (so that the labourers won’t take two hours for lunch), CP has to deal with endless problems. And the only way to solve it is by winning the confiscated road roller back from the municipality. From trying to bribe the overseer, who works under the engineer (brother-in-law) with some halwa and banana chips (well, that’s the bribe CP can afford) to setting up a local mess for the labourers, CP is doing everything in his power to complete the construction.
Next we can see Radhakrishnan getting a call around midnight, and he is informed that the bridge he had built collapsed, and a bus full of passengers fell into the river. Out of the 85 passengers, 65 lose their lives, and amongst them is Panchayath President Sivadasan’s (Sreenivasan) wife and their three-year-old child. Though Radhakrishnan is an influential and prominent contractor in the town, he is corrupt, which resulted in building the bridge without adequate materials and care. Prabhakaran suggests Radhakrishnan to convince his driver to accept the responsibility for the mishap. They offer their loyal driver Rs. 25000 and a job for his daughter, and forces him to agree. Police arrest the driver soon for destroying the bridge with explosives and later he is bailed out by Radhakrishnan and Prabhakaran, however, they end up murdering him to silence him from revealing the truth under any circumstances. However, Sivadasan knows the truth and even threatens the minister (Nedumudi Venu) to stand by the truth.
Meanwhile, CP, on the other hand, has reached the point where he has to borrow the pension money from his dad, and plead with a homeowner, nearby his construction site to allocate some space so his labourers can set up a firewood stove. Turns out, it was his ex-girlfriend Radha’s house. And the filmmaker takes the audience to their flashback, and campus life.
Things start to go south when Kumaran cross the boundaries and peep into their bathroom. Not knowing the whole truth, CP rushes to the house at night and threatens the family, thinking that his ex-girlfriend is behind the false accusations. Well, there might be couples who could break up respecting each other and pretend like friends. Sadly CP and Radha are not one of them!
The next morning CP wakes up to a battalion of cops, who have come to arrest him for trespassing Radha’s property and threatening them. After the whole
tamasha he comes to know that a new municipal commissioner has taken charge, and rushes to the municipality office only to find out that it is none other than his ex! The real fun begins when the verdict in the road roller case comes out. CP becomes the owner of a road roller and as per him it is a stepping stone in his career. The road roller has been unfunctional for a while and they go in search of an operator and finds Sulaiman (Kuthiravattom Pappu). From boasting about how he had a narrow escape from a fatal accident while driving through Thamarassery Churam (Malayalis would easily connect to this!) to his one-liners including
Ipo sheriyakki tharam (Will get it fixed soon) to
Padachone Ingal Katholi (God, help), his dialect and all the drama would make you laugh your lungs out! From taking the assistance of an elephant to pull the road roller to it going out of control and destroying the compound wall of exactly his ex’s house, and landing in legal soup, CP’s escapades to complete the road construction - his ambitious and only project will make you laugh loud and think at the same time. As the title suggests, the road roller itself is the white elephant, and the elephant in the room is the corrupt politicians, who nurture unlawful activities and their doers.
‘Vellanakalude Nadu’ is yet another hard-hitting satire from the Priyadarshan-Sreenivasan-Mohanlal combo said in a light-hearted manner.
Trivia- ‘Vellanakalude Nadu’ was a success, in critical and commercial aspects.
- It is one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of the 1980s.
- The film had a successful theatrical run for over 150 days.
- Mohanlal won the Special Jury Award for his performance at theKerala State Film Awards.
- The film was remade in Hindi in 2010 as ‘Khatta Meetha’, starring Akshay Kumar and Trisha Krishnan.
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