Relive 3 Evergreen Malayalam Love Stories

As I have written earlier, Malayalam Film Industry (Mollywood) has produced some of the best movies ever, with great visionaries creating such realistic content. It’s portrayed effortlessly by some of the finest actors of all time! ’80s to mid-’90s, which I consider as the Golden time of Malayalam Cinema witnessed relatable, soulful stories aided by detailed screenplay of everyday life. The narration had a perfect mix of drama and humour. The Background music stood out! This period also gave us beautifully constructed evergreen love stories.

Apart from the Great Film-makers, Crew behind the scenes and Actors, the greatness of the movies of those times were the depth of all the Characters. The Character artists were some of the best, unmatched talents ever appeared on screens!

Sharing three movies from the ‘80s capturing simple, innocent and pure love. Let’s relive some nostalgic moments from these evergreen classics!

1) Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal

Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal is a 1986 romantic drama movie written and directed by one of my favorite filmmakers of all time – Padmarajan. The brilliant writing and direction of Padmarajan, amazing music from Johnson, wonderful cinematography from Venu, and fantastic performances especially from Mohanlal, Thilakan and Shari makes it an evergreen classic!

Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal brilliantly portrays a mature love story. Mohanlal as Solomon is in love with Sofia played by Shari, whereas the evil stepfather of Sofia played by Thilakan has other plans. The performances are great and so natural elevated by sheer genius in screenplay and direction. This is one of my favorite love stories of all time!

This movie has one of the best proposal scenes I’ve ever seen – Simple, Innocent & Pure Love! (aided by an excellent background score, camera angles and natural acting – which are specialities of Padmarajan movies)

Namukku Parkkan Munthirithoppukal has two beautiful songs composed by Johnson, lyrics by O. N. V. Kurup, sung by KJ Yesudas. Sharing my favorite song.

Absolutely love the Goosebumps inducing Climax!

---

2) Mazhavilkavadi

Mazhavilkavadi is a 1989 romantic comedy movie directed by Sathyan Anthikad and written by Raghunath Paleri. The movie stars Jayaram as Velayudhankutty who is deeply in love with Amminikutty played by Sithara. Mazhavilkavadi captures the beauty and simplicity of the Village Life, told in an entertaining way with rib-tickling comedy, family drama and pure love.

Velayudhankutty and Amminikutty are in love since their Childhood. Amminikutty’s Father Kalarickel Sankarankutty Menon (Innocent) who is the maternal uncle of Velayudhankutty, is against their love and is in look-out for a rich groom for his daughter. How their true love succeeds along many hurdles forms the rest of the movie. Mazhavilkavadi is filled with entertaining characters who uplifts the movie to a different level. Let’s explore them.

Team Velayudhankutty vs Sankarankutty Menon

Paravoor Bharathan: As Vasu (Meeshayilla Vasu), the right hand of Kalarickel Sankarankutty Menon. He later joins Velayudhankutty’s gang. One of my favorite characters in the movie, Paravoor Bharathan offers many memorable moments in the movie.

Meena: As Nangeli, Amminikutty’s mother. She secretly supports her daughter’s love.

Mamukkoya: As Kunjikhader, a friend of Velayudhankutty. Everyone thinks he is bigshot in Palani, but in real, is into pick pocketing. He suggests Velayudhankutty to elope with Amminikutty

Sankaradi: As Kuriya Varkey, a Car Mechanic. Kuriya Varkey is with Velaudhankutty and is the main strategist of the elope planning.

Karamana Janardhanan Nair: As Nanukuttan, Velayudhankutty’s drunkard father. He works at Kuriya Varkey’s Car Workshop. He supports his son’s relationship.

Kaviyoor Ponnamma: As Velayudhankutty’s mother who worries on the families’ quarrels.

Philomina: As Velayudhankutty’s maternal Grandmother. She is very active and supports his love

Oduvil Unnikrishnan: As Kunjappu, who does odd jobs here and there. He supports Velayudhankutty however he can.

Jagannathan: As Ubaid, Kunjikhader’s elder brother. He suggests Velayudhankutty to go to Palani and meet Kunjikhader to find a job.

Bobby Kottarakkara: As Murugan, who rides a horse cart. He helps Velayudhankutty in Palani.

Krishnankutty Nair: As Kaalimuthu, a barber in Palani. A desperate Velayudhankutty, after losing all his cash, robs the barbers kit from Kaalimuthu. Later, he lies to Kaalimuthu about being an orphan & Kaalimuthu adopts him as his son. 

Urvashi: As Anandavalli, daughter of Kaalimuthu. She instantly falls for Velayudhankutty without knowing his backstory. Another favorite character of mine! Her performance was absolutely brilliant!

Valsala Menon: As Anandavilli’s mother. She and Kaalimuthu wants Velayudhankutty to marry Anandavalli.

Mazhavilkavadi has three beautiful songs written by Kaithapram, composed by Johnson and sung by G Venugopal, KS Chithra and Sujatha. Sharing two favorite songs from the movie.

---

3) Yathra

Yathra is a 1985 romantic drama movie written and directed by Balu Mahendra. This is an underrated gem among the other movies which often hits the limelight. It is an emotional journey of love, how it feels to lose the love of your life and how wonderful it feels to regain it.

Yathra stars Mammotty as Unnikrishnan, an orphan who gets posted to a rural forest village where he falls for a village girl Thulasi played by Shobana. They decided to get married and he sets off to inform his marriage to his best friend. On his way back, the police arrest him as a suspected criminal, who has some visible similarities to Unnikrishnan.

Unnikrishnan accidently kills a policeman and is sentenced to Life imprisonment. He painfully writes a letter to Thulasi asking her to forget him and move on.

Once his jail time is about to complete, Unnikrishnan writes to Thulasi asking her to light a lamp if she still waits for him. After years of mental and physical torture and pain, he goes to the village to meet Thulasi. Is she still waiting? The movie is told in a flash back narrative style where the hero is telling the story to a group of students on a tour bus who gave him a ride to the rural village.

The climax is pure gold!

The performances from Mammotty and Shobana are excellent. We feel and experience their innocent love, smiles, pain and empathize with them hoping for a happy ending. The music from Ilayaraja is nothing short of brilliant with beautiful visuals and fine story telling from Balu Mahendra.

Verdict

Pure Gems! Must-Watch!

---

Image source: IMDB
Video Credits: YouTube

---

Have you read my article on the Classic Malayalam Movie ‘Sandesham’? Read here

Share with friends :