| Udayananu Tharam | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Malayalam | ??????? ???? |
| Directed by | Rosshan Andrrews |
| Produced by | C. Karunakaran |
| Screenplay by | Sreenivasan |
| Story by | Rosshan Andrrews |
| Starring |
Mohanlal Meena Sreenivasan Mukesh Jagathy Sreekumar Salim Kumar |
| Music by |
Deepak Dev Ouseppachan (Score) |
| Cinematography | S. Kumar |
| Edited by | Ranjan Abraham |
Production company |
Perfect Group |
| Distributed by | Carlton Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 162 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
Udayananu Tharam (English: Udayan is the Star) is a 2005 Indian Malayalam black comedy film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and scripted by Sreenivasan from a story by Andrrews. The film stars Mohanlal, Meena, Sreenivasan, Jagathy Sreekumar, and Mukesh. Udayananu Tharam presents the Malayalam film industry through a satirical viewpoint.
The financial and artistic crisis which plagued the once glittering Malayalam film industry at the turn of the 21st century lies at the center of the story. It depicts the struggles of Udayabhanu (Mohanlal), who is an assistant director and screenwriter and who aspires to be a director. But he is thwarted in his attempts by a scheming friend and junior artiste, Rajappan Thengamoodu (Sreenivasan), who steals his scrreenplay to become superstar Saroj Kumar.
Director Roshan Andrews changed his name to "Rosshan Andrrews" as per his astrologer's suggestion to ensure the success of the film. The film made the biggest ever opening until then in the history of Malayalam cinema. The film won two Kerala State Film Awards, for Best Debut Director and for Best Choreography. The film was remade into Tamil cinema as Velli Thirai in 2008, and into Bollywood as Shortkut in 2009. A spin-off titled Padmasree Bharat Dr. Saroj Kumar was released in 2012.
Contents
Plot
Udayabhanu (Mohanlal) is a hardcore worshipper of films and a talented assistant director, who yearns to write and direct his own film at a time when the industry is filled with dubious filmmakers. Rajappan Thengummoodu (Sreenivasan) is a rather crooked friend of Udayabhanu and an aspiring and failed actor.
Udayabhanu finally prepares to shoot his first film based on his own script, he discovers to his horror that Rajappan has stolen his manuscript, and filming is underway with Rajappan playing the leading role, which eventually propels him to stardom. Udhayabhanu soon finds himself faced with a career and personal crisis, with his faltering relations with his actress wife Madhumati (Meena) contributing to the latter.
Later, with the help of producer Babykuttan (Mukesh), Udayabanu prepares to direct another film, but he is forced to cast Rajappan as the hero since he was the star with most market value at that time. Rajappan takes up the offer, since he is also at a plateau of his career, but refuses to co-operate and throws tantrums and causes maximum trouble when possible. He spends most of his time actively flirting with the actresses in the film.
Towards the end of the shoot, using a perceived insult as a ruse, Rajappan leaves the set leaving the film half way with the hope that this will destroy Udayabanu's career for ever. But Udayabanu devises clever tactics and shoots the remaining scenes with Rajappan without him even being aware of it. The sequences depicting these tactics were heavily inspired from the Hollywood hit Bowfinger.
At the end, the film is a critical and box office success, which also saves Rajappan from his damaging career, Rajappan realises his mistakes and admits publicly that Udayabanu is the real star and not himself.
Cast
- Mohanlal as Udayabhanu, an aspiring filmmaker
- Meena as Madhumathi,Film Actress ( Voice dubbed by Bhagyalakshmi )
- Sreenivasan as Rajappan Thengummoodu/Super star Saroj Kumar
- Mukesh as Babykuttan, producer
- Jagathy Sreekumar as Pachalam Bhasi, acting trainer
- A. K. Lohithadas as Prathapan, director
- Cochin Haneefa as "Sona" Sisupalan, producer
- Salim Kumar as Rafeeq, actor
- Janardhanan as Madhumathi's father
- Anand as Dinesh
- T. P. Madhavan as Bhaskarettan
- Bhavana as Gayathri, actress
- Deepika Mohan
Box office
The film was well received in theaters and took the biggest ever opening for a Malayalam film until then. It grossed ?3.12 crore (US$460,000) in two weeks from 41 screens in Kerala, with a distributor share of ?1.38 crore (US$210,000). The film was commercial success.[3]
Accolades
- Kerala State Film Awards
- Best Debut Director - Rosshan Andrrews
- Best Choreographer - Brinda
- Asianet Film Awards
- Best Actor - Mohanlal
- Best Script Writer - Sreenivasan
- Best Cinematographer - S. Kumar
Soundtrack
The songs were composed by Deepak Dev and lyrics by Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parayaathe | Dr. K. J. Yesudas, K. S. Chithra |
| 2 | Karale Karalinte | Vineeth Sreenivasan, Rimi Tomy |
| 3 | Penne En Penne | Afsal, Shalini Singh |
| 4 | Parayaathe | Karthik |
| 5 | Penne En Penne (My Girl - Remix) | Afsal |
| 6 | Udayananu Tharam | Ranjith Govind, Deepak Dev |
Remakes
| Year | Title | Language | Cast | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Velli Thirai | Tamil | Prithviraj, Gopika, Prakash Raj | Viji |
| 2009 | Shortkut | Hindi | Akshaye Khanna, Arshad Warsi and Amrita Rao | Neeraj Vora |
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