Narasimham (film)

Narasimham
DVD cover
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	Ranjith
Produced by	Antony Perumbavoor
Starring	Mohanlal Thilakan Kanaka N. F. Varghese Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran Jagathy Sreekumar
Cinematography	Sanjeev Sankar
Edited by	L. Bhoominathan
Music by	Songs: M. G. Radhakrishnan Score: C.Rajamani
Production company	Aashirvad Cinemas
Distributed by	Swargachitra
Release date	26 January 2000 (2000-01-26)
Running time	175 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹1.1 crore[1]
Box office	est. ₹22 crore[2]

Narasimham (transl. The man-lion) is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language action drama film directed by Shaji Kailas and written by Ranjith. Narasimham was released on 26 January 2000, India's 50th Republic Day,^[3] and ran for 200 days in theatres and grossed over 20 crores worldwide, which at time was a record in the Kerala Box Office.^[1] The film stars Mohanlal in the title role with Thilakan, Kanaka, N. F. Varghese, Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran and Jagathy Sreekumar in pivotal roles. Mammootty appears in a cameo role. The film was the first production of Aashirvad Cinemas, owned by Antony Perumbavoor, the former chauffeur of Mohanlal.

The film was re-released under the name Narasimham Returns in 2014, which premiered in Dubai and was re-released in Kerala on several occasions, where it still enjoys a cult following.^[4][5] The film was remade in Telugu as Adhipathi (2001), starring Mohan Babu, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Preeti Jhangiani and Soundarya.^[6]

Poovalli Induchoodan is the only son of idealistic High Court Justice Maranchery Karunakara Menon, who is sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for murdering his classmate. He later learns that the Home Minister, Manapally Madhavan Nambiar and his crony DYSP Sankaranarayanan had framed him to seek revenge on Justice Menon who had earlier given jail sentence to Manapally in a corruption case. Induchoodan, who had achieved rank in Civil exams loses the post and Manapally Sudheeran, Manappally's younger son enters the list of civil service trainees.

It is later revealed that Ramakrishnan, who is the son of Mooppil and Manappally's top supporters, was the real killer. After 6 years, Madhavan Nambiar, who is now a former state minister, is dead and Induchoodan is released from prison. Induchoodan thwarts Manapally Pavithran, Manappally's elder son from performing the funeral rituals of his father at the banks of Bharathapuzha. Many confrontations between Induchoodan and Manapally's henchmen begin. Justice Menon and his wife Sharada return to Kerala to stay with Induchoodan. A girl named Indulekha claims to be the daughter of Justice Menon. Indulekha was manipulated by the Manappally's family members to take revenge on Induchoodan. Menon flatly refuses the claim and banishes her.

Forced by circumstances and at the instigation and help of Manapally Pavithran, she reluctantly comes out open with the parentage claim. At first, Induchoodan thrashes the protesters, but upon knowing the truth from his maternal uncle Chandrabhanu, he accepts the task of her protection as her elder brother. Induchoodan decides to marry Indulekha to his good friend Jayakrishnan where he confronts Justice Menon and prods him to accept the mistake and acknowledge the parentage of Indulekha. Menon ultimately regrets and secretly goes on to confess to his daughter.

The next morning, Induchoodan returns to Poovally, where he learns that Indulekha is found dead and Menon is accused of murdering her. The whole act was planned by Pavithran, who after killing Indulekha forces Raman Nair (Menon's long time servant) to testify against Menon in court. In court, Nandagopal Marar, a close friend of Induchoodan and a Supreme Court lawyer, appears for Menon and manages to lay bare the murder plot and hidden intentions of the other party. Menon is proved innocent and is released. After confronting Pavithran and promising to avenge Indulekha's death, Induchoodan meets Justice Menon, who is remorseful for all his actions, including not believing in the innocence of Induchoodan.

While speaking to Induchoodan, Menon suffers a stroke and passes away. At Menon's funeral, Manapally Pavithran arrives to poke fun at Induchoodan and also tries to carry out the postponed last rituals of his own father. Induchoodan interrupts the ritual and avenges the death of Indulekha and Justice Menon by severely injuring Pavithran. On his way back to a peaceful life, Induchoodan accepts Anuradha, who is the robust and honest daughter of Mooppil Nair as his life partner. This film was a mass class movie one of the best successful movies of Mohanlal.

The film's original soundtrack includes five songs composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan and a total of eight tracks. Lyrics were by Gireesh Puthenchery. The soundtrack album was released by Sargam Speed Audios and later the audio right was acquired by Satyam Audios.^[7] The song "Aarodum Onnum" featuring Mohanlal and Aishwarya is not included in the film's home video version.

Narasimham was released on 26 January 2000 on India's Republic Day. It was re-released on 5 December 2014 in Dubai after 15 years. The re-release was part of a special programme organised under the title Narasimham Returns on the occasion of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the film. It premiered at Golden Cinemas, Dubai. The premiere was attended by the major cast and crew of the film and subsequent screenings was received well by public. Later, it was released in Kerala.^[4][8]

In 2016, Narasimham Returns was re-released in seven districts in Kerala. The special screenings was held in Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam, Kannur, Pathanamthitta and Kollam on 26 January 2016.^[9]

The film was released in 32 centres in Kerala. It collected a distributor's share of ₹2 crore (US$240,000) in 35 days from the state.^[10] The film completed 200 days in theatres. Producer's profits were estimated at ₹10 crore.^[11] Narasimham generated around ₹7 crore for the distributor's share.^[12] At the time, the film was the highest-grossing film in Malayalam cinema.^[11] The film also created history for screening with maximum number of additional shows for any Malayalam film, which took 16 years to surpass by Premam (2015).^[13][14] It is one of the highest rated films in the television.^[15]

The film grossed ₹20 crore (US$2.4 million) at the box office against a budget of ₹2 crore (US$240,000),^[16] making it the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, at the time.^[3] It ran for more than 200 days in theatres.^[1][17]

At the Asianet Film Awards, the film was awarded the Best Film and Shaji Kailas was adjudged the Best Director.

Mohanlal's puch dialogue in the film Nee Po Mone Dinesha has become an iconic Malayalam catchphrase.^[18][19] The Mundu worn by Mohanlal in this film, popularly known as Narasimham Mundu, became a fashion trend among youngsters.^[20][12] The film includes five songs composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, of which Dhaankinakka/Pazhanimala and Mohanlal's introduction song attained a high level of popularity. The film was the 1000th acting credit of Jagathy Sreekumar.

Two years after being elected as the prime minister, Modi visited the state of Kerala in May 2016, to campaign for the BJP in the 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election. During a campaign rally, Modi gave a speech in which he compared the infant mortality rate of Kerala to that of Somalia^[21] Kerala is one of the most religiously heterogeneous states in India, and the Kerala model has consistently been praised as one of the most socially developed states.At the time of his remarks, IMR of Kerala was 10 IMR of Gujarat was 30, the average IMR of India was 34 ^[22] and Somalia had an average of 137.This IMR of 10 is best in India.^[23] As another consequence of Modi's remark, a social media campaign took off, making use of the hashtag PoMoneModi, loosely translating to "Go Back Modi". The hashtag is a reference to the popular punchline "Nee Po Mone Dinesha" from the film Narasimham.^[24]

• Narasimham at IMDb