Meesa Madhavan

Meesha Madhavan
VCD cover
Directed by	Lal Jose
Written by	Ranjan Pramod
Produced by	Maha Subair Sudhish
Starring	Dileep Kavya Madhavan Indrajith Sukumaran Jagathy Sreekumar
Narrated by	Ranjith
Cinematography	S. Kumar
Edited by	Ranjan Abraham
Music by	Vidyasagar
Production company	Moviekshetra
Distributed by	Kalasangham Films Kas Varnachithra
Release date	4 July 2002 (2002-07-04)
Running time	160 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹1.45 crore (US$170,000)

Meesha Madhavan (lit. 'Moustache Madhavan') is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film directed by Lal Jose and written by Ranjan Pramod. The film stars Dileep in the title role, while Kavya Madhavan, Indrajith Sukumaran, Jagathy Sreekumar, Harisree Asokan and Cochin Haneefa play supporting roles. It was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year and also subsequently became an industry hit after Thenkasipattanan. Meesha Madhavan raised Dileep's superstardom to a whole new level and developed a cult following in Malayalam cinema. It was remade in Telugu as Dongodu (2003) starring Ravi Teja and in Kannada as Hori (2010) starring Vinod Prabhakar and in Tamil as Kollaikaran starring Vidharth.

Plot

In a short prelogue, a young boy is seen being chased through the fields by villagers with torches and sticks at night, when an old thief Mullani Pappan (Mala Aravindan) helps him escape, when he learns that the boy Madhavan, stole from the village loanshark at night- only to payback a monthly interest due the next day.

Set in the imaginary village of Chekk, Palakkad, the story begins on the traditional newyear according to malayalam calender when we are introduced to Madhavan's family and friends. At dawn, Madhavan has a vivid nightmarein which he is Laden and his nemesisBush has him trapped and surrounded. Madhavan and friends ruin the Vishu kani of his nemesis,Pillai, by mooning, one of which was his friend Sugunan (Harisree Ashokan) dresses up as Lord Krishna painted blue.

Madhavan was forced to resort to petty thieving when his father dies and he has to find means for his elder brother's education. Although infamous in the locality for stealing Kindi, his helpful nature is appreciated by the villagers who see him as the local Robin Hood, nicknamed "Meesa" Madhavan, an epithet given under the circumstance that if Madhavan were to roll his handlebar moustache looking at someone, their house will be robbed by him before sun dawn.

Sugunan is Madhavan's right hand, Nambooriyachan ( Oduvil Unnikrishnan) is the local Police Head Constable and Bhageerathan Pillai (played by Jagathi Sreekumar) is the village loan shark, who is a cut throat when it comes to levying heavy interests on the poor villagers.

A new Inspector Eapen Papachan is posted at their village, who is corrupt, alcoholic and Pillai immediately teams up with him to have Madhavan publicly humiliated. They manhandle Madhavan at the temple and Eapen threatens Madhavan to shave off his moustache.

Madhavan in desperation of losing his house to Bhageerathan Pillai's greedy scheme, plans to win his daughter Rukmini's heart, his initial advances are thwarted by a witty Rukmini, who even challenges Madhavan to raid her own house before sun dawn in an attempt to trap and have Madhavan arrested.

Madhavan takes up the challenge and breaks into her house, steals the golden waist Chain worn by a sleeping Rukmini, and meets up with her next day confidently victorious that she won't file a police complaint of theft,to save her modesty. To his surprise, Rukmini runs off in tears.

A vengeful Rukmini teams up with her father and Thrivikraman to plant a roll of banknotes worth ₹25,000 which Thrivikraman buries in Madhavan's front yard. The next day, police arrive at Madhavan's place, beats him up and on Pillai's cue, forces him to dig up from the spot- to their dismay, he uncovers only a bag of dry jackfruit seeds. This whole incident happened amidst a match-making visit of Madhavan's sister Malathi, which leads to the proposal being called off.

Later on, Madhavan visits a puzzled Pillai at night and reveals Thrivikraman, who's daft plan to mark-the-spot, foiled their setup of planting the mainour. Rukmini upon realizing that Malathi's marriage was called off because of her and her father, is shocked and slowly starts falling for him. Eappen Pappachi has an eye on Rukmini, he shows up one day, drunk, when Rukmini was home alone, only to be blindfolded and beat up by a man inside the house. On getting treated by the local ayurvedic masseuse pappachi infuriates Pillai by accusing Rukmini of having an affair, with Madhavan. Enraged, Pillai rushes back home and has Rukmini locked up in her room. His advocate visits them and advices Rukmini that Madhavan might be taking advantage of the situation, eyeing Pillai's wealth, getting his hand on, through Rukmini. They move immediately to court to seize Madhavan's residential property before Malathi is married, to pressurize him to back off from his relationship with Rukmini.

Madhavan is offered, by Pillai, his land and home back, if he comes clean with Rukmini about his motives.

His property and sister's wedding at stake, a steadfast Madhavan pledges his love to Rukmini amidst the villagers and a dumbstruck Pillai and advocate duo. Santhamma, Rukmini's mother seems to be the only person unmoved by this, as Madhavan's own family wanted him to forsake Rukmini and grab back his ancestral home. A furious Manikandan confronts Madhavan;the deadline to pay back ₹100,000 lumpsum by the weekend, Madhavan is driven to despair.

At the temple ground, Malathi's fiancé comes up to Madhavan and hands over the lump sum demanding absolute secrecy since his family will back off from the wedding if they came to know of what he's done. He advices Madhavan to immediately go to the city to arrange a lawyer to settle the money at the court.

A grateful Madhavan is seen by an ambalavasi warrier,prostrate at the temple, even after the poojari has closed the sanctum for the night.

Madhavan doesn't return home that night. The next day, the idol at the temple is found missing, and everybody suspects Madhavan, since his present desperate need for money was known well to the villagers. Adding oil to the fire is the news that a lawyer has been paid the whole sum, by Madhavan, last night.

An unsuspecting Madhavan is round up by the police and beaten up by the mob, before he jumps off the bridge into a river. Madhavan comes across his mentor Pappan who seems to be the only person who believes Madhavan is innocent; Madhavan's modus operandi is to break into the attic by dislodging the roof tiles, but the idol was stolen through a broken doorlock. It becomes Madhavan's responsibility to find the culprits, lest be banished from Chekk. Pappan advices Madhavan to lay low at a nearby empty warehouse. While hiding at the warehouse attic, Madhavan witnesses S.I Eapen Pappachi with 2 strangers who are also at the hide out. One of the thieves, says he bruised his hands while dumping the idol at the dead well, when he slipped and grabbed a Murikku tree for support.

Madhavans rushes from his hideout to Mullani Pappan's home, on the way he slips and falls when he sees a mob, bruising his hand.

Pappan on learning the news, is dumbstruck that ,of all the deadwells in the village, they won't find the idol in time to rescue Malathi's marriage being called off. Asking how Madhavan bruised his arms, Pappan inadvertently reveals the location of a dead-well with a nearby Murikku tree- which is within Pappan's compound.

Realising any attempt to restore the idol themselves,will only incriminate the village thief and his mentor, Madhavan and Pappan device a plan to force Eapen Pappachi to retrieve the idol from the well, in the nick of time.

The mob lead by Nambooriyachan catch Eapen and the goons with the idol, and while waiting for police backup blesses Madhavan and his love interest at the temple ground. Pillai also has a change of heart and accepts the union.

Cast

{{Cast listing|

• Dileep as Madhavan Nair (Meesha Madhavan)
  • Arun Kumar as Young Madhavan
• Indrajith Sukumaran as SI Eapen Pappachi, corrupt young cop who wants to take down Madhavan. He and his goons steal the idol from the temple to sell to an antique dealer named Seth/സേട്ട് in the city.
• Kavya Madhavan as Rukmini, 20 year old daughter of Pillai. A childhood friend of Madhavan, who has now grown out of that fondness, studies in a college in the city.
  • Sanusha as Young Rukmini
• Jagathy Sreekumar as Krishnavilasom Bhageerathan Pillai, Rukmini's father, and a greedy moneylender who has eyes on Madhavan's property. It is revealed along the course of the story that he was a poor man who came to Chekk as a manual labourer and wooed the then village moneylenders daughter, the affair got her pregnant, and she was married to him to save the family's honour. He has an affair with a soldier's wife, and despite it being known only to Madhavan (who came across Pillai leaving the soldier's house at night, when Madhavan was breaking in) is paranoid suspicious of the villagers knowing of the affair, so much so that he doesn't want the temple ritual of "വെടിവഴിപാട്" (vedivazhipadu involves huge bursts of loud firework) announced through the loudspeakers in fear of being a laughing stock.He also owns the ration store where Sugunan is employed and has farm land seized from villagers who failed to pay the hefty interest levied. At one point, Madhavan threatens to reveal Pillai's affair to the villagers if not for Pillai to lease him the land for farming. Pillai reluctantly agrees but later denies of any such agreement. Madhavan retaliates by harvesting the Snake Gourd off the land and selling it to contractors in a funny twist of events.

• Harisree Ashokan as Sugunan, Madhavan's friend. A handyman working at village store. He plays Lord Krishna during Vishu every year, despite Madhavan's mother warning him that Lord Krishna didn't grow a beard.
• Cochin Haneefa as Thrivikraman, a dimwit and adviser to Bhageerathan Pillai, he claims to have political backing from the ruling party at Thiruvananthapuram. His advice often leads to Bhageerathan Pillai losing money.
• Oduvil Unnikrishnan as Head Constable Achuthan Namboothiri, Prabha's father, a close friend of Madhavan's father.
• Mala Aravindan as "Mullani" Pappan, Mullani/മുള്ളാണി (lit. brad nail) nicknamed so, because he used to spit nails hidden in his mouth at people chasing him,to injure or blind them. Now an old thief, blames his nail-spitting tactics for the cones on his foot (also called Mullani in Malayalam) that now prevent him from executing a fast escape.
• Salim Kumar as Advocate Mukundan Unni, originally a junior lawyer to Bhageerathan Pillai's attorney. He learns of Pillai's attempt to swindle Madhavan's land and decides to inform Madhavan and appear for him at the court.
• Jyothirmayi as Prabha, daughter of the police S.I, she had a crush on Madhavan since childhood but it was never reciprocated.
• Karthika Mathew as Malathi, Madhavan's younger sister, who's marriage dreams form a pivot in Madhavan's own character arc. Often, match making attempts by the villagers go astray when the groom's family learns Madhavan's infamy.
• Sukumari as Sumathi, Madhavan's mother. A innocent widow who support Madhavan's thieving out of desperation to make ends meet.
• James as Pattalam Purushu, a meathead soldier and friend of Madhavan. Unbeknownst to him, Bhageerathan Pillai is having an affair with his wife Sarasu, when he's away at Kashmir.
• E. A. Rajendran as Manikandan, Madhavan's elder brother, a post office employee, and a married man, Madhavan's burglary was also aimed at providing an education and stability to his elder brother. His wife Sindhu wants her brother Soman, a 42 year old, jobless psychiatric patient-now in remission-to marry Malathi.
• Machan Varghese as Lineman Lonappan, an alcoholic powergrid worker who helps Madhavan by cutting off power to houses Madhavan plans to burglar at night for a bottle of rum. He's often seen during the day perched on top of powerline posts from where he passes comments on passers-by, Thrivikraman is often victim to "pedali/പെടലി" shouts by him, a pejorative used to mock the cervical brace worn by him.
• Manikandan Pattambi as Vazhipaadu Announcer
• Guinness Pakru as Tea Boy
• J. Pallassery as Gangadharan Nair, Madhavan's father
• Jayesh Pazhanimala as Madhavan's childhood friend
• Kalabhavan Prachod as Prabha's husband
• Ambika Mohan as Santhamma, Bhageerathan Pillai's wife. She is fond of Madhavan and quietly wishes of him marrying their daughter Rukmini.Despite waking up whenever Madhavan breaks into Pillai's house, she never informs this to her husband knowing well that Madhavan never steals anything beyond justification to her husband's greed. Sleeping through burglaries has made her despised in an unbeknown Pillai's eyes, who mocks her for being a heavy sleeper.
• Gayathri as Sarasu, Purushu's wife.Bhageerathan Pillai, who sleeps over at her place when her husband is away, let's her have freebies- sugar and oil from his ration store, for keeping up with his demands.
• Meena Ganesh as Kalmayi Thatha, the village match-maker who brings proposal for Malathi from prospective grooms from neighboring towns and villages.
• Yamuna as Sindhu, Manikandan's wife and Madhavan's sister-in-law.Sindhu wants her brother Soman, a 42 year old, jobless psychiatric patient-now in remission-to marry Malathi.
• Dinesh Prabhakar as Local Youth
• Vijayan Peringode as Warrier, an Ambalavasi who is always skeptic of Madhavan (a no good thief) visiting the holy temple
• Kozhikode Narayanan Nair as senior Advocate and legal aide to Bhageerathan Pillai, he is given the custody of the documents of Madhavan's property, confidentially; after a burglary incident in which Madhavan stole Nambooriyachan's property ownership documents from Pillai's locker, but intentionally left behind his own property documents out of conscience.

Pillai wants this advocate to move for legal sequestration of Madhavan's property, despite Madhavan paying back 4 times the principal loaned to his father, and still pays monthly dues according to Pillai's false ledger.

Soundtrack

Meesha Madhavan
Soundtrack album by Vidyasagar
Released	6 June 2002 (2002-06-06)
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Label	Satyam Audios
Producer	Vidyasagar
Vidyasagar chronology
Randam Bhavam (2001) Meesha Madhavan (2002) Pattalam (2003)

The music album of Meesa Madhavan happens to be one of the most popular works of Vidyasagar. The lyrics were written by Gireesh Puthenchery. Originally, the song 'Elavathooru Kayalinde' was written by Arumugan Venkitangu as a folksong. A part of the song "Karimizhi Kuruviye" was reused in "Aasai Aasai Ippoluthu" in Dhool.

Track	Song Title	Singers	Raga(s)
1	"Ente Ellamellam"	K. J. Yesudas, Sujatha Mohan, Sreeja Ravi(Dialogues)	Desh
2	"Karimizhi Kuruviye"	Sujatha Mohan, V. Devanand	Kapi
3	"Penne Penne"	M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra, Kalyani Menon.	Valachi
4	"Chingamaasam"	Shankar Mahadevan, Rimy Tomy	Shanmukhapriya
5	"Theme Music"	Instrumental
6	"Elavathooru"	P. Madhuri
7	"Pathiri Chuttu"	Machad Vasanthi
8	"Ente Ellam"	K. J. Yesudas
9	"Karimizhi Kuruviye"	Sujatha Mohan	Kapi
10	"Vaaleduthal"	Vidhu Prathap, Anuradha Sriram	Kharaharapriya

Reception

A critic from Deccan Herald wrote that "After Tenkashi Pattanam, this is another comedy that actually tickles you into laughter. Portraying the travails of a thief, Dileep characteristically performs to perfection eclipsing even the versatile Jagadhi Sreekumar. Kavya Madhavan as Rukmani has pretty little to do. The storyline itself has nothing new to offer, but it is the treatment of situations that require credit".

Box office

The film was commercial success at the box office and became the highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2002 and also emerged as an industry hit. It had completed 250 days in theatres.

External links

• Meesa Madhavan at IMDb