If you are not a Malayali and are wondering where director #Priyadarshan’s #HeraPheri and #BhoolBhulaiyya came from, the answer lies in the eighties. He honed his comedy skills with a super hit of that time #MazhaPeiyunnuMadallamKottunu. This was the era of #JagathySreekumar and the likes of #Mukesh, #Jagadeesh were yet to make their mark. This was also one of the first movies where the redoubtable #Sreenivasan paired with #Mohanlal on their journey of iconic comedy movies. This was the era when the common man scorned all things English, American returned neighbors and high society indulgences like modern art. The victory of the underdog is the clever subtext in the slapstick comedy. Released in 1986, this was also one of the 55 odd films that have seen #Mohanlal and #Mammootty together in a film! The film is available on #YouTube.
The film opens in the sprawling bungalow of K T Nair (#CIPaul) and his wife Devaki (#Sukumari). Life is good and Nair calls his friend to inform him that his son Madhavan aka M A Dhavan(#Sreenivasan) is returning from America on a flight! Their driver Shambu (#Mohanlal) is tardy and turns up in a lungi. At the airport, Shambu does not salute his boss’s son and Dhavan takes umbrage at the fact that Shambu refers to their childhood friendship.
Next on the agenda is a marriage proposal for Dhavan. The bride is #Lissy, daughter of Krishna Kurup (#JagathySreekumar). In a leaf from the #AmitabhBachcan - #Dharmendra comedy of the seventies #ChupkeChupke, the duo of Dhavan and Shambu decide to drive down to their house but decide to switch roles. The idea is to test if the wife-to-be will value the human side of the prospective groom and not be led by the American returnee’s riches.
Kurup has his own rivalry with #KuthiravattamPappu at the local Nethaji club and their duel of one up manship leads to its own complications. Meanwhile, #Mukesh is trying to land a wealthy woman who is fascinated with modern art. Many a slapstick dialogue later, this comedy of errors and mistaken identities leads to a free wheeling brawl that finally results in Shambu winning the girl!
The movie was a superhit in the theaters at that time. Dialogues like “How many kilometers from Washington DC to Miami Beach?” and “Get outhouse” became folklore of the times.
#JagathySreekumar discovered his potential around this time and went on to dominate the comedy scene for more than a decade. Other funny men like #ManiampillaRaju also emerged from the shadows. A special word for the inimitable #CochinHanifa, a man whose wooden body language and expressive eyes became synonymous with laughter.
#MazhaPeyunnuMadallamKottunnu also saw #Mohanlal become a funny man in many a movie. His childlike innocence and gleeful laugh as well as his slightly rotund frame made him the darling of Malayali households. For a man who has straddled Malayalam cinema for 45 years and over 300 films, this film is a wonderful throwback to his early days and that tentative body language that heightened his appeal as the unlikely Superstar. Today, he is not just that; with a Padma Bushan, five National Awards and nine state awards under his belt, he is our own Lalettan!!
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