Mannar Mathai Speaking

Mannar Mathai Speaking
Poster
Directed by	Mani C. Kappan Siddique-Lal (uncredited)
Produced by	Mani C. Kappan
Written by	Siddique-Lal
Story by	Siddique-Lal
Starring	Mukesh Vani Viswanath Saikumar Innocent Biju Menon
Music by	S. P. Venkatesh
Cinematography	Anandakuttan
Edited by	K. R. Gaurishankar S. Parivallal
Production company	O.K. Productions
Distributed by	O.K. Pictures
Release dates	1995 (1995)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Mannar Mathai Speaking is a 1995 Malayalam comedy film written by Siddique-Lal, produced and directed by Mani C. Kappan, and starring Mukesh, Saikumar, Innocent, Vani Viswanath, and Biju Menon in the main roles.^[1] It is the sequel to Ramji Rao Speaking (1989) and was followed by Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 (2014.) The main plotline has been borrowed from the Alfred Hitchcock classic Vertigo.

Priyadarshan adapted certain subplots of the film for his Hindi film, Bhagam Bhag (2006) which went on to be remade in Telugu as Brahmanandam Drama Company.^[2] Writer Siddique later reused the story and tweaks it for his Tamil movie Sadhu Miranda.^[3] The film received universal acclaim upon release. It also did well at the box office. Saikumar, Mukesh, Innocent, Vijayaraghavan and Sukumari reprised their roles for this film. Harishree Ashokan, who played a minor role in the first film played a member of Garvashes Asaan's mob.

Production notes

In the opening credits for the movie, nobody's name is shown as the director. Instead, a statement by producer Mani C. Kappan, saying thanks to Siddique-Lal for helping him out in directing the movie, is shown. However, in the closing credits of the movie, Mani C. Kappan is credited as the director. Actually, the film was directed by Siddique alone, as Lal was not interested in a sequel for their evergreen film. After completing the film, Siddique did not agree to credit his name alone as the director. He suggested producer Kappan to credit himself as the director.^[4]

Plot

Mannar Mathai (Innocent) is now running a drama group under Urvashi Theatres. The lead actors in this troupe, Gopalakrishnan (Mukesh) and Balakrishnan (Saikumar), always fights with each other for the lead role in the drama. During Urvashi Theatre's first stage show, Gopalakrishnan was supposed to act like slapping the heroine, but he ends up slapping her for real, and hard. The hurt heroine leaves the troupe accepting the invitation to act in a movie.

The drama troupe soon faces trouble without a lead actress. Since Gopalakrishnan was the guy who created all the trouble, he took up the responsibility to find an actress. All his efforts to find a lead actress goes in vain. During the course of his search, while he was travelling in a taxi, a girl named "Meera" (Vani Viswanath) jumps in front of the car to commit suicide. Gopalakrishnan rescues and brings her to the drama camp. When she regains consciousness, they make her the lead actress of the troupe. To get the role of the hero, Gopalakrishnan mocks her as his cousin, and she will only act if they make him the hero. Balakrishnan however does not readily believe in this and he brings Gopalakrishnan's mom (Sukumari) to the camp to clarify. When the truth was about to come out, Gopalakrishnan tells his mom that he told everyone that she is his cousin because he is in love with her. His mom asks him to marry her. With no way out they try to mock their marriage in front of all.

After the marriage, Meera tries to commit suicide again by jumping into the well. Gopalakrishnan slaps her and she loses consciousness. They all takes her to the doctor where she gains consciousness. She then says that she does not remember anyone from the troupe and she is the wife of a wealthy businessman called Mahendra Varma (Biju Menon). They inform this news to Mahendra Varma, and he comes and take her to his home. Later she calls Gopalakrishnan and says that she is going to commit suicide, and they all rush to their home. By that time she had lit herself, and they all could only watch her die.

After 6 months, when the troupe was in Mangalore, Balakrishnan happens to see Meera on the roadside. She reappears in their home later and tells them the truth. She said that her real name is Stella, and Meera was the name of Mahendra Varma's real wife played by Geetha Vijayan. It was his real wife who died that day. He had hired an actress to act as if she was Meera and to provide proof that she had suicidal tendencies. They try to take revenge against Mahendra Varma and put him behind the bars.

Mahendra Varma kidnaps Gopalakrishnan's mother and bargains with Gopalakrishnan to bring Stella to them. In the mean time, the villain of the first movie Ramji Rao Speaking, Ramji Rao (Vijayaraghavan) also surfaces. He kidnaps Meera and bargains money. Now Gopalakrishnan is trapped in between two kidnapping attempts, and he has to rescue both his mom and his wife. In the hilarious situations that follow, using their clever tactics, Gopalakrishnan and his gang rescue them both. Mahendra Varma falls off from the top of a building and everyone think he died, while his body falls in the truck driven by Ramji Rao, and he drives off.

Cast

• Mukesh as Gopalakrishnan
• Saikumar as Balakrishnan
• Innocent as Mannar Mathai
• Vani Viswanath as Meera / Stella Fernandez
• Biju Menon as Mahendra Varma
• Janardhanan as Garvasees Aasaan
• Cochin Haneefa as Eldho
• Vijayaraghavan as Ramjirao
• Indrans as Ponnappan
• Harisree Ashokan as Sudhavu
• Prathapachandran as Doctor
• Sukumari as Gopalakrishnan's mother
• Geetha Vijayan as Meera
• Kaviyoor Ponnamma as Meera's mother
• K. P. Ummer as Prathapa Varma
• Machan Varghese
• Priyanka as Shakunthala
• Kaduvakulam Antony as the booking agent

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack contains 8 songs, all composed by S. P. Venkatesh and Lyrics by Bichu Thirumala.

References

External links

• Mannar Mathai Speaking at the Internet Movie Database