Udayananu Tharam

''Udayananu Tharam'' () is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language black comedy satire film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Sreenivasan based on a story he had co-written with the director. The film stars Mohanlal, Sreenivasan, Meena, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar. The songs featured in the film was composed by Deepak Dev, while Ouseppachan provided the background score. ''Udayananu Tharam'' presents the Malayalam film industry through a satirical viewpoint.

The financial and artistic crisis which plagued the once glittering Malayalam film industry at the turn of the 21st century lies at the center of the story. It depicts the struggles of Udayabhanu (Mohanlal), who is an assistant director and who aspires to be a director. But he is thwarted in his attempts by a scheming friend and junior artist, Rajappan Thengamoodu (Sreenivasan), who steals his screenplay to become superstar Saroj Kumar.

The film made the biggest ever opening until then in the history of Malayalam cinema. The film won two Kerala State Film Awards, for Best Debut Director and for Best Choreography.
It is inspired by the 1999 movie ''Bowfinger''. It was remade into Tamil cinema as ''Velli Thirai'' in 2008 and into Bollywood as ''Shortkut'' in 2009.

Plot

Udayabhanu is a hardcore worshipper of films and a talented assistant director, who learns to write and direct his own film at a time when the industry is filled with dubious filmmakers. Rajappan Thengummoodu is a rather crooked friend of Udayabhanu and an aspiring and failed actor.

Udayabhanu finally prepares to shoot his first film based on his own script, he discovers to his horror that Rajappan has stolen his manuscript, and filming is underway with Rajappan playing the leading role, which eventually propels him to stardom. Udhayabhanu soon finds himself faced with a career and personal crisis, with his faltering relations with his actress wife Madhumati contributing to the latter. She leaves the house later after Udayan causes chaos in the house after getting drunk, saying that he lost everything.

Later, with the help of producer Babykuttan, Udayabanu prepares to direct another film, but he is forced to cast Rajappan as the hero since he was the star with most market value at that time. Rajappan takes up the offer, since he is also at a plateau of his career, but refuses to co-operate and throws tantrums and causes maximum trouble when possible. He spends most of his time actively flirting with the actresses in the film.

Towards the end of the shoot, using a perceived insult as a ruse, Rajappan leaves the set leaving the film half way with the hope that this will destroy Udayabanu's career for ever. But Udayabanu devises clever tactics and shoots the remaining scenes with Rajappan without him even being aware of it.

At the end, the film is a critical and box office success, which also saves Rajappan from his damaging career, Rajappan realises his mistakes, admits publicly that Udayabanu is the real star and not himself and apologises to Udayabhanu.

Cast

*Sreenivasan as Rajappan Thengummoodu / Superstar Saroj Kumar
* Mohanlal as Udayabhanu / Udayan
* Meena as Madhumathi Udayabhanu
* Mukesh as Babykuttan
* Jagathy Sreekumar as Pachalam Bhasi
* Salim Kumar as Rafeeq
* A. K. Lohithadas as Director Prathapan
* Janardhanan as Krishnamoorthy, Madhumathi's Father
* Cochin Haneefa as Producer "Sona" Sisupalan
* Indrans as Vijayan Varkala
* Anand as Dinesh
* T. P. Madhavan as Bhaskarettan
* Bhavana as Gayathri, actress
* Deepika Mohan as Bhaskarettan's wife
* Sreehari

Production

The film was the directorial debut of Rosshan Andrrews who started as an assistant director in Malayalam cinema. He changed his name from Roshan Andrews to Rosshan Andrrews as per numerology before the film's release. The film's story was conceived by Andrrews, who prepared the story three year back but producers were not willing to take the film as they thought a film based on film industry would not work. He also approached Jayaram for the film, but he also rejected it as Rosshan Andrrews was a new director. He then narrated the story to Sreenivasan who developed it into a screenplay, which took two years, and introduced him to C. Karunakaran who agreed to produce the film. Sreenivasan also helped him to cast Mohanlal in the lead role.Sreedhar Pilla
A coup by debutant director
''The Hindu''

Box office

The film was well received in theaters and took the biggest ever opening for a Malayalam film until then. It grossed in two weeks from 41 screens in Kerala, with a distributor share of .
The film was a major commercial success.

Spin-off

A spin-off titled Padmasree Bharat Dr. Saroj Kumar directed by Sajin Raaghavan was released in 2012.Sreenivasan reprises the role of Megastar Saroj Kumar from the original. The director announced that this is not a sequel: Only some characters from Udayananu Tharam were used.

Accolades

;Kerala State Film Awards
* Best Debut Director - Rosshan Andrrews
* Best Choreographer - Brinda

;Asianet Film Awards
* Best Actor - Mohanlal
* Best Script Writer - Sreenivasan
* Best Cinematographer - S. Kumar

Soundtrack

Remakes

References

External links

*

{{Rosshan Andrrews

Malayalam films remade in other languages
2000s Malayalam-language films
Films with screenplays by Sreenivasan
Films about filmmaking
Rajappan1
Films scored by Deepak Dev
Films scored by Ouseppachan
Films directed by Rosshan Andrrews
Films shot at Ramoji Film City