For our 100th post, we have a two part series on the Top 10 comedy movies of Malayalam cinema by co-written by Guest contributor Unni. The list of movies is in no particular order. The second part of this series will be published tomorrow.
1. Vadakkunokki Yanthram: A short dark Sreenivasan marries a taller, fair Parvathi and he gets suspicious that she does not love him. The movie starts with a letter Thalathil Dineshan (Sreenivasan) is writing to the doctor in a Ma magazine. When Parvathi says that she likes Mohanlal because he is funny, Sreenivasan mugs up jokes from Phaithabindukkal, jumps over the wall and tells it to her with a serious face.
This movie was Sreenivasan’s directorial debut and he made it classy with some outragerous scenes, like living in a lodge next to his house to keep an eye on his wife and applying lot of powder on his face to look fair. The scene where he practices the dialogue for his first night had tear rolling our eyes due to laughter.
Notable dialogue: Chayakkada aanennu thettidharichu barbershop-il kayariya vridhhanodu barber. Achan eppol vannu (after knocking Parvathi’s father with an olakka), Nilavilakkinte aduthu karivilakku vechathu pole undu
2. Thalayana Manthram: Kanchana, was the typical Malayali housewife - from a middle-class background, but always wanting to show off in front of her neighbours. Urvasi, as Kanchana, showed why shes easily the best comedy actress in Malayalam. Sreeni, played Kanchana’s meek husband, Sukumaran. Jayaram and Parvathi were the other characters However Thalayanamathram will be best remebered as Uravasi’s movie.
Notable dialogues: Kanchana: “Sukuvetta..ini nammade makkal Sukuvettane acha ennu vilikkilla” Sukumaran: “eh.ayyo” Kanchana: “Avar ini Sukuvettane daddy ennu vilikkum”.
3. Nadodikattu: Story of two unemployed youths, Dasan and Vijayan who, after repeated attempts to do well at home, look to strike gold in the Gulf, only to land up in Madras instead. This Sathyan Anthikad movie can easily be called as the benchmark for clean humor in malayalm cinema. Mohanlal and Sreenivasan brought the house down with their comedy and paraveppU.
Characters like Pavanayi-the killer from Kanjagad, Anathan Nambiar - the underworld don and Kovil Venkatesan - the Kalainjar look-alike, will remain etched forever in the Malayali minds. The huge success of Nadodikattu resulted in parts 2 and 3 - Pattanapravesham and Akkare Akkare Akkare - both were hits at the Box Office
Notable One-liners - “Pavanaayi Shavamaayi“; “Ellathinum athintethaya samayavum sthalavum undu daasa; “Oru joli kittiyittu venam leave edukkan” and so many more.
4. Ramji Rao Speaking: One did not expect much from a movie, directed by two assistants of a veteran. Siddique and Lal, didnt just meet people’s expectations, they exceeded it. Unlike most movies, this one did not feature any superstars. However the trio of Mannar Mathai (Innocent), Gopalakrishnan(Mukesh) and Balakrishnan (Sai Kumar) endeared themselves to the Malayalees.
They were ably supported by Ramji Rao, played by Vijayaraghavan and Hamsakoya by Mamukoya. Ramji Rao also marked the debut of Rekha. Its hit prompted a sequel - “Mannar Mathai Speaking”.
Notable One-liners: Mathayi chettan undo, Mone Balakissnnaaa, Ningal moonu peryum iratta pettathano
Mathai: Entha ninte vishamam?
Balakrishnan: Ente peru Balakrishnan
Mathai: Atha ninte vishamam?
5. Kilukkam: The veteran of slapsticks, Priyadarshan, teamed up with Mohan lal and Jagathi to produce an end-to-end comedy, with Ooty as backdrop. The tourist guide - Joji played by Lal and the “still photographer” Nischal, thought that their fortunes would take a turn for the better, when Nandini Thampuratti (Revathi) landed in Ooty. Sadly that was not to be. Superb comedy-timing by Lal and Jagathi, along with melodious music and the scenic Ooty, saw Kilukkam become a mega hit at the box office
Notable One-liners: “Main aur Joji jhagda-jhagda“, “Onnugil ooty allengil chatti“, “Njaan singapore poye ninakku 500 dollars..money order aayi ayachu tharaam“.
Part 2 of this series will be published tomorrow. If you think a movie should be in this list, please leave a comment with your reasons.
Loading ...
April 20th, 2006 at 9:18 am
“Avar ini Sukuvettane daddy ennu vilikkum”
Hilarious! I think this is the post that I have enjoyed the most so far from your team. Yes, Urvashi is and was a wonderful actress. Too bad film makers today are so talent lacked that they can’t make characters that can be essayed well by this actress.
April 20th, 2006 at 3:08 pm
GREAT TOPIC of discussion. How about Gandhi Nair 2nd Street?? The dynamic duo of Sreenevas and Mohanlal strike again!!
April 20th, 2006 at 8:30 pm
My personal choice of comedy artists in Malayalam cinema would be as follows
1. Jagathi/Sreenivasan - too close to call
2. Mohan Lal
3. Mukesh
Amongst actresses it has to be the sisters
1. Urvashi
2. Kalpana
April 20th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
Marvellous compilation! By and far the best I have read in this blog! I was smiling (or rather Laughing) as I read through the post. The compilation was marvellous and am looking forward to the second part!
April 21st, 2006 at 1:46 am
According to me, the best comedy movie I have seen is “Godfather”. It was one hell of a movie.. I still remember the introduction of Innocent in the movie..
Innocent is at his office offering pujas to Hanuman and his father calls him. Innocent’s assistant takes the call and informs him that he has a call and Innocent responds, “Aarude ammey kettiya cheguthanada villikunna??”, when he gets on the phone his father says back “Nintey ammey kettiya cheguthanada”.. That was hillarious…
One small request, I know you people will not do that, but for peace of my mind, please donot include any of the current Dileep’s movies in the name of comedy movies in the list… That will be an insult to the film industry, which can boast that it has more comedy movies than any other Indian film industry!!
April 21st, 2006 at 8:39 am
Unnikrishnan,
As you can see there are no Dileep movies in our list. This was not intentional for we liked Meesha Madhavan a lot. But any movie written by Sreenivasan tops it all and hence most our Top 10 movies have some association with Sreenivasan.
May 9th, 2006 at 12:53 am
Nadodikattu. Haha.
Akkare Akkare Akkare is equally good.
Paul Barber.
One killer dialogue in Nadodikattu is :
When Dasan and Vijayan take home a couple of cows, someone asks them
‘Naalaalum koodi engotta?’
May 16th, 2006 at 1:59 am
Akkare Akkare Akkare was the best of the lot
lal - “Oho Appol nee aanalley Paul Barber?”
Sreeni (in pain) - “Ninda achhan aada Paul Barber”
Sreeni is undoubtedly the best story writer in Indian cinema
May 16th, 2006 at 8:37 pm
A lot of people trashed Akkare Akkare, calling it slapstick..but somehow it remains my favorite of the 3..Maybe because it had an ensemble of comedy from people like Soman (Krishnan Nair), Nedumudi Venu (Sivadasa Menon), Raju (Gopi from Sasthamangalam) and Mukesh (Surendran from Pattathanam).
The best scenes are the ones before they depart for America - the one where Sreeni falls on Lal’s feet and asks him also to be taken along - “Meen Aviyal” and all..Also the scene at the departure lounge and their arrival at American Airport..Hilarious stuff really.
Those days..sigh!!
May 17th, 2006 at 10:56 pm
Seriously.. Those days.. sigh!!
AAA is not at all slapstick. Those two guys are very dignified when they do comedy. No sticking the tongue out, generally falling down and wincing in pain, peeling a banana and pushing it up their noses.. all those are slapstick. But M and S are way more dignified.. The innocence in their faces.. Ammmmmaaaaaaaaa.. give me a time machine..
September 16th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Hey I need some help identifying the movie where Mohan Lal is actually Srinivasan’s chauffeuer but role reverses when Srinivasan wants to be incognito when going to meet a prospective bride. Dialogues I remember include” “How many miles from NewYork to SanFrancisco? Miles and miles…”, “Americayil evida thamasam? Junction il”.. Let me know if anyone remembers the movie title. Thanks
September 16th, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Atl its mazha peyunnu madhalam kotunnu
September 17th, 2006 at 9:43 am
it actually goes like this
how many kilometres from washington junction to miami beach
kilometres and kilometres …..
April 8th, 2007 at 10:22 pm
1. In Harihar Nagar
2. Chakkikotta Changaran
3. Ramji Rao Speaking
4. Boeing Boeing
5. Poochakoru Mookutti
6. Chitram
7. First Bell
8. Toovalsparsham
9. Vadakku Nokki Yantram
10. Killukkam
April 8th, 2007 at 10:25 pm
There are more I want to add. “Puthukkottayile Puthu Manavalan”
May 11th, 2007 at 3:48 am
I thought one of the best lines in Naadodikkaattu was the line continuing from “Pavanaayi Shavamaayi” Thilakan goes on (may not be verbatim): “Enthokke behalam aayirunnu. machine gun, malappuram kaththi, olakkaide moodu…!”
May 11th, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Maha,
Certainly, that line is still there in memory and even now we use it a lot in casual conversation when something flops miserably. Thilakan was perfect was Ananthan Nambiar.
July 18th, 2007 at 2:32 am
Hi all
I am in a search of comedy movies and that bring me here…I want to suggest one more movie”Chathikkatha Chanthu” ,a very very nice movie…By Rafi-mecartin..
Some dialouges like ” vasumathi..athu mathi…
scene Janrdhanan and Jayasurya
And anothr innocent comment ” Police karu vannathu raathriyila…iruttayathu karanam enne kandillaa…
that man was really having a dark complexion…
somny things to laugh……
November 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 am
Hi Guys,
Do you think Malayalam films are far ahead in comedy movies considering Indian Cinema. Do you think the best comedy movies in India are made in Malayalam? I feel so. Hindi movies except Priyan movies hve comedy but the standard is much low.
Tamil comedy movies mainly focus on event based comedy.