Top 10 Comedy Movies – Part 1

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.

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