INTRODUCTION
Being one of those rare movies which has been viewed by me, a large number of times - those which I cannot sieze watching again and again, what I have to say about this movie is that it is just a magical treat to the viewers.
I don’t know if any of you have seen this movie. Most of you may have heard about the Bollywood movie ’’Yodha’’ starring Snjay Dutt and Sunny Deol. But this is a Malayalam movie starring one of the best actors of the Malayalam movie industry, Mohan Lal.
This movie’s speciality is the rare combination of action, adventure, thrill and the most important thing - music composed by A.R. Rahman which are some absolute treats to hear. ’’Kunukune’’ is the best song in the movies and ’’Padakaali’’ is one of its kind, especially as it is a visual treat also with the fight between Mohan Lal and Jagathy.
THE STORY
The story varies from any other movie made in Malayalam, especially as this one is shot mainly in the hilly areas of Nepal. A group of Buddist monks in the Nepal valley are attacked by the evil forces and the young Tibetan Lama, Rinpoche is pursued into hiding in Nepal by the evil cult leader (Puneet Issar) as there was no other chance for his survival.
Meanwhile, Ashokan (Mohan Lal) and Appukuttan (Jagathy Sreekumar) are cousins, but fight each other for supremacy and fame in their village. Their families doesn’t like each other and Appukuttan wants to win atleast once against Ashokan to become a hero in front of his fiancee Damayanthi (Urvasi), but always keeps on getting beaten again and again.
Ashokan is to go to his uncle’s house at Nepal, but Appukuttan gets in their in his disguise. Ashokan also comes there and falls in love with the uncle’s daughter Aswathi (Madhubhala) there who is an archeologist. At the same time, Rinpoche ends up in Ashokan’s care, who fails to know who the boy is and how important he is to the people.
When he realises that he is ready to take on the forces of evil with some help from the Buddist monks. The preparations of the evil to get hold of the Lama’s powers has already begun! At the same time, Appukuttan who had been following him is caught by the tribals.....it is the war between the good and evil.....
PERFORMANCES
Mohan Lal has given us nothing unusual - his usual style is just fantastic and absolutely suitable for this movie. Who else could have done better than him? He along with Jagathy Sreekumar makes a partnership in comedy that gives the viewers a journey through Nepal which they are never going to forget.
The action scenes are well designed and thrilling. They have done such a wonderful job in mixing comedy along with action along with keeping a distance between them when needed without any overdoings. They can come at any moment with no warning.
Both the actresses had been quite brilliant in the movie and so is the villain. He got the best expressions that I had been thinking about such a character in Unreal Tournament 2004! The movie itself is a classic only due to the performance of the cast and the crew.
CONCLUSION
It is a bad news to hear that the movie wasn’t a big hit then. But this movie is loved by everyone of this era. I think that this movie was released at a bad time. If this one was released right now, with lots of poor Malayalam movies being released, this would have become the super hit of the century. I am still wondering when I will stop watching this movie again and again!
I had been thinking about a sequel to this movie getting released, but there is absolutely no chance for this right now as the current Malayalam movies are worse than ever. If you ever get a chance to see this movie, don’t avoid it, especially if you get a DVD with the subtitles on which eliminates the language barrier almost completely.
Actors: Mohan Lal, Madhubala, Jagathi Sreekumar, Urvasi, Puneet Issar etc
Released: 1992
Directed By: Sangeeth Sivan
Music: A.R. Rahman
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