Mannar Mathai Speaking

Mannar Mathai Speaking
Mannar Mathai Speaking
	VCD cover
Directed by	Mani C. Kappan
Written by	Siddique-Lal
Produced by	Mani C. Kappan
Starring	Mukesh; Innocent; Sai Kumar; Vani Viswanath; Biju Menon
Cinematography	Anandakuttan
Edited by	K. R. Gaurishankar; S. Parivallal
Music by	S. P. Venkatesh
Production; company	O.K. Productions
Release date	6 April 1995;
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Mannar Mathai Speaking is a 1995 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film produced and directed by Mani C. Kappan and written by Siddique-Lal. The film stars Mukesh, Innocent, Sai Kumar, Vani Viswanath, Biju Menon, Geetha Vijayan, K. P. Ummer, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Janardhanan, Indrans, Vijayaraghavan, Sukumari, Harisree Ashokan and Cochin Haneefa.^[1] It is a sequel to the 1989 film Ramji Rao Speaking, and is followed by Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 (2014). Vani Viswanath made her debut in this film as a leading actress.^[2]

The film was a commercial success. It is loosely based on Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo (which was an adaptation of the 1954 novel The Living and the Dead by Boileau-Narcejac).^[3] 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.^[4]^[5] Writer Siddique later reused the story and tweaked it for his Tamil film Sadhu Miranda (2008) and Telugu film Maaro (2011).^[6]

Plot

Mannar Mathai is now running a theatrical troupe under 'Urvashi Theatres'. The lead actors in this troupe, Gopalakrishnan and Balakrishnan, always fight with each other for the leading role. During Urvashi Theatres first stage show, Gopalakrishnan is given the role of a villain and is supposed to slap the heroine Shakunthala, but he slaps her really hard. Shakunthala leaves the troupe accepting her invitation to act in a film.

The drama troupe soon faces trouble without a lead actress. Since Gopalakrishnan created all the trouble, he has to take up the responsibility to find an actress. All his efforts to find a lead actress go in vain. During the course of his search, while he was travelling in a taxi, a girl named "Meera" jumps in front of the car to commit suicide. Gopalakrishnan rescues her and brings her to their 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 mother to the camp to clarify. When the truth was about to come out, Gopalakrishnan tells his mother that he told everyone that she is his cousin because he is in love with her, and she asks him to marry her. With no way out, they marry in front of all.

After the marriage, Meera tries to commit suicide again by jumping into the well. She suffers an electric shock and loses consciousness. They all take her to the doctor where she regains 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. They inform this news to Mahendra Varma, and he takes her to his house. Later she calls Gopalakrishnan and says that she is going to commit suicide, and they all rush to Mahendra Varma's house. By the time they reach, she had lit herself, and they all could only watch her die.

After three months, when the troupe is in Mangalore, Balakrishnan happens to see Meera on the roadside. They are almost assaulted by a group of Muslim fanatics but they manage to escape. Meera reappears in their house, Mathai believes that she is a ghost and gets scared. She says them that she is not dead and her real name is Stella Fernandez and Meera was the name of Mahendra Varma's real wife who died that day. Stella tells that Meera didn't commit suicide but she was killed by Mahendra Varma and he hired Stella who is a criminal and a robber who operates under many names and in many dress codes to act as Meera and to provide proof that she had suicidal tendencies. She met Mahendra Varma in a jewelry shop where she got caught for stealing. She tried to save Meera but she couldn't. They plan to take revenge against Mahendra Varma and put him behind bars.

Mahendra Varma kidnaps Gopalakrishnan's mother and blackmails Gopalakrishnan to bring Stella to him. In the meantime, Ramji Rao also surfaces. He kidnaps Stella and bargains for money. Now Gopalakrishnan is trapped between the two kidnappers and has to rescue both his mother and Stella. In a hilarious situation, Mathai gets the suitcase of money, drinking alcohol between the fight. Using their clever tactics, Gopalakrishnan and Balakrishnan manage to rescue them both. Garvasees Aashan comes there with his gang to break Gopalakrishnan's leg as revenge for his leg being broken by Gopalakrishnan on the day when Stella jumped into his car. Gopalakrishnan fools him by telling him they are practicing drama and he and his gang fight with Ramji Rao's and Mahendra Varma's gangs. When Garvasees Aashan tries to break Gopalakrishnan's leg during the fight with Gopalakrishnan and Mahendra Varma, he accidentally hits Mahendra Varma and he falls off from the top of the building and everyone thinks he is dead, while his body falls on the truck driven by Ramji Rao, and he drives off.

Cast

Mukesh as Gopalakrishnan
Innocent as Mannar Mathai
Sai Kumar as Balakrishnan
Vani Viswanath as Meera Varma / Stella Fernandez
Biju Menon as Mahendra Varma
Vijayaraghavan as Ramji Rao
Janardhanan as Garvasees Aasan
Cochin Haneefa as Eldho
Sukumari as Gopalakrishnan's mother
K. P. Ummer as Prathapa Varma
Kaviyoor Ponnamma as Meera's Mother
Indrans as Driver Ponnappan
Harisree Ashokan as Sandhyavu
Prathapachandran as Doctor Unnithan
Geetha Vijayan as Meera Varma (real)
Machan Varghese as Velayudhankutty
Priyanka Anoop as Shakunthala
Kaduvakulam Antony as Booking Agent
Kuttyedathi Vilasini as Shakunthala's mother

Soundtrack

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

#	Title	Singer(s)
1	"Aattirambil"	K. S. Chitra
2	"Aattirambil" (M)	K. J. Yesudas
3	"Machane Va"	Malgudi Subha
4	"Olakkayyil Neeraadi"	K. J. Yesudas, K. S. Chitra
5	"Paal Saranikalil"	K. J. Yesudas, K. S. Chitra, Chorus
6	"Paal Saranikalil" (M)	K. J. Yesudas

Box office

The film became a commercial success.^[7]^[8]

References

^ "Mannar Mathai Speaking". Oneindia. 21 July 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012.
^ "In Focus interview - Vani Viswanath". Mathrubhumi. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
^ "Best Sequels of Malayalam Cinema, Ranked: From Kireedam to Oru CBI Diary Kurippu". 17 February 2021.
^ "Bhagam Bhag pay royalty to Malyalam film maker". Realbollywood.com. 13 December 2006. Archived from the original on 4 April 2009.
^ "Malayalam films remade in Hindi". The Times of India. 29 July 2015.
^ "Movie Review : Sadhu Miranda". Sify. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
^ "Malayalam films which led to sequels". The Times of India. 2 January 2014.
^ "Meleparambil Aanveedu Mannar Mathai Speaking sequels". The Times of India. 13 September 2011.

External links

Mannar Mathai Speaking at IMDb

[1] "Mannar Mathai Speaking". Oneindia. 21 July 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2012.

[2] "In Focus interview - Vani Viswanath". Mathrubhumi. Archived from the original on 27 November 2013. Retrieved 11 December 2013.

[3] "Best Sequels of Malayalam Cinema, Ranked: From Kireedam to Oru CBI Diary Kurippu". 17 February 2021.

[4] "Bhagam Bhag pay royalty to Malyalam film maker". Realbollywood.com. 13 December 2006. Archived from the original on 4 April 2009.

[5] "Malayalam films remade in Hindi". The Times of India. 29 July 2015.

[6] "Movie Review : Sadhu Miranda". Sify. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 30 December 2010.

[7] "Malayalam films which led to sequels". The Times of India. 2 January 2014.

[8] "Meleparambil Aanveedu Mannar Mathai Speaking sequels". The Times of India. 13 September 2011.

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v t e Ramji Rao Speaking series
Original films	Ramji Rao Speaking (1989) Mannar Mathai Speaking (1995) Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 (2014)
Remakes	Arangetra Velai (1990) Hera Pheri (2000) Dhanalakshmi, I Love You (2002) Wrong Number (2002) Trin Trin (2004) Hera Pheri (2016) Gol Gappe (2023)
Related	The Living and the Dead Vertigo (1958) See The Man Run (1971) Do Ladke Dono Kadke (1979) Phir Hera Pheri (2006) Bhagam Bhag (2006) Brahmanandam Drama Company (2008) Sadhu Miranda (2008) Maaro (2011)

v t e Films directed by Siddique
Directed alone	Hitler (1996) Friends (1999) Friends (2001) Chronic Bachelor (2003) Engal Anna (2004) Sadhu Miranda (2008) Bodyguard (2010) Kaavalan (2011) Maaro (2011) Bodyguard (2011) Ladies and Gentleman (2013) Bhaskar the Rascal (2015) Fukri (2017) Bhaskar Oru Rascal (2018) Big Brother (2020)
Directed with Lal	Ramji Rao Speaking (1989) In Harihar Nagar (1990) Godfather (1991) Vietnam Colony (1992) Kabooliwala (1993) Mannar Mathai Speaking (1995) King Liar (2016) (writer only)