''Randam Bhavam'' () is a 2001 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry ( Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam wa ...

-language

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

film directed by

Lal Jose Lal Jose is an Indian director, actor, producer and distributor who works in the Malayalam film industry. He started his career as an Assistant director in the Malayalam cinema. His directorial debut was with the 1998 film ''Oru Maravathoor ...

and written by

Ranjan Pramod Ranjan Pramod is an Indian screenwriter and director best known for his work in Malayalam cinema. He made his debut as a writer with ''Randam Bhavam'' (2001). His popular films include '' Meesa Madhavan'' (2002), '' Manassinakkare'' (2003), '' ...

. It stars

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, politician, playback singer and television presenter. He works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and has also appeared in some Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Bollywood films. Suresh made his acti ...

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

along with

Thilakan Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...

Biju Menon Biju Menon (born 9 September 1970) is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam films, and also has a few Tamil and Telugu film credits. He made his debut in the 1994 Malayalam film ''Puthran''. In a career spanning over two decades ...

Poornima Mohan Poornima Indrajith (née Poornima Mohan; born 13 December) is an Indian actress and television presenter who works in mainly in Malayalam cinema. Apart from that, she is a fashion designer. She is married to actor Indrajith Sukumaran. Early an ...

Lena Lena or LENA may refer to: Places * Léna Department, a department of Houet Province in Burkina Faso * Lena, Manitoba, an unincorporated community located in Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality in Manitoba, Canada * Lena, Norway, a village in ...

Narendra Prasad Raghava Kurup Narendra Prasad (26 December 1946 3 November 2003) was an Indian actor, playwright, director, teacher and literary critic. He was born at Mavelikkara in the erstwhile Kingdom of Travancore. Appreciated for his body language and ...

Lal Lal ( fa, لعل, hi, लाल, bn, লাল, ur, لال, ps, Lāl) is an Indo-Iranian surname and given name, which means "darling", "precious", or "beloved", from the Sanskrit ''lala'' ("cajoling").''Dictionary of American Family Names''F ...

and

Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...

in pivotal roles.

Plot

The film begins with Police Officer Jeevan (

) taking charge of Mangalore city Police. He learns from his subordinate Sudhakaran Nair (

Sadiq Sadiq is a male name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Ja'far al-Sadiq, the 8th-century Muslim scholar and scientist, considered as an Imam and founder of the Ja'fari school of jurisprudence by Twelver and Isma'ili Shi’as, and a major f ...

) that the city is still ruled by underworld don Govindji (

). Navaneeth Krishnan a.k.a. Kishanji (

) is Govindji's lead henchman. Govindji acts as a sort of Godfather to him. Kishan has a face-off with Jeevan and Jeevan gets injured in the fight. Jeevan later is surprised to see Kishan during a train journey but it turns out that it is Ananthakrishnan a.k.a. Ananthu (

), Kishan's identical twin, who, unlike Kishan, is a well-educated and righteous person. Jeevan visits their family home in Kerala to confirm the facts. He learns that Kishan, despite being from a well-off family and being topper at school, ran off during his teenage and joined the gangs of Mangalore owing to a punishing father (

). Jeevan also meets Kishen's uncle (

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

) and his daughter Manikkutty (

) who is Ananthu's fiancée. Back in Mangalore, Jeevan meets Govindji and he introduce Jeevan to his lawyer (

Oduvil Unnikrishnan Oduvil Unnikrishnan (13 February 1943 – 27 May 2006) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam cinema. He has portrayed supporting roles in both dramatic and comedic roles.The HindMalayalam film actor Oduvil Unnikrishnan dead He is a four- ...

) as the officer responsible for destroying Pune underworld and as the son of former Deputy General of Police, Chandrasekhar. Later in the film, it is hinted that Govindji is responsible for the death of Jeevan's father and Jeevan is seeking revenge. Kishen's best friend Muhammed Ibrahim (

) works for Mahendra Reddy (

T. P. Madhavan T. P. Madhavan (born 7 November 1935) is an Indian actor who appeared in Malayalam films. He started acting at the age of 40. He has acted in more than 600 films. He came into the film industry playing villain roles; later he started doing com ...

), the leader of the rival gang. Despite this, they keep their friendship alive. Kishen lives in a flat provided by Govindji and has a deep relation with neighbouring family of Akhila (

Poornima Indrajith Poornima Indrajith (née Poornima Mohan; born 13 December) is an Indian actress and television presenter who works in mainly in Malayalam cinema. Apart from that, she is a fashion designer. She is married to actor Indrajith Sukumaran. Early a ...

) and her mother (

Sukumari Sukumari Amma (6 October 1940 – 26 March 2013) was an Indian actress best known for her works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning more than five decades, She has appeared in more than 2500 films predominantly in Malayalam, Tam ...

), whom he calls Mummy. Akhila is in love with Kishen but he wears a stern face to hide his love. Ananthu visits Kishen at his flat and befriends Akhila. Kishen becomes visibly jealous with the affection and respect that Akhila shows to Ananthu. Ananthu requests Kishen to return home, however Kishen refuses as he still strongly hates his father. Kishen murders Mehaboob (

Nadirshah Nadhirshah is an Indian film director, music composer, singer, lyricist, actor, mimicry artist, comedian, and television host, who works in Malayalam films, television and stage. He has done several supporting roles in Malayalam cinema. His area ...

), a close associate of Muhammed Ibrahim which upsets him greatly. Jeevan councils Muhammed and he provides information on Reddy's secret godowns. Jeevan raids the godowns and arrests Reddy. Govindji senses danger and he convinces Kishen to kill Muhammed Ibrahim which he does with a single shot from behind with great grief. Back home Kishen finds 'Mummy' murdered and realize that Govindji ordered the murder. Kishen visits Govindji and gets furious with him. He kills the man who has murdered Mummy and quits the gang. In respite Govindji arranges a 'Shoot at sight' order against Kishen. Jeevan learns this and tries to protect Kishen. Meanwhile, Ananthu arrives in Mangalore to pursue Kishen to attend their sister's wedding. Jeevan manages to find Kishen but Ananthu is killed in front of them by Govindji's men. Jeevan and Akhila convinces Kishen to pretend as Ananthu so as to escape Govindji. Kishen, Jeevan and Akhila takes Ananthu's body back to Kerala. At home, he finds his parents grieving on his death. After the funeral, Jeevan returns while Akhila stays for a few more days. Kishen tries to be Ananthu, without knowing anything about him. He find it very difficult and goes lonely most of the times. He enters a long leave from college. He understands how much his father loved him. Also his mother (

Sreevidya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), also known as Sreevidya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, ...

) reveals to him that she had understood his identity at first sight. Back in Mangalore Govindji finds a new hitman (Baburaj) and kills Mahendra Reddy to destroy evidence against him. Jeevan visits Kishen and request his assistance to destroy Govindji. He tries to provoke Kishen to seek revenge for his brother's death. However Kishen refuses to help as he is trying to carry on his new life. Ananthu gets honoured by a national award for his contributions to bird watching and book. Kishen finds it difficult to face the press interviews following the award. He reveals the truth to his uncle (

). Meanwhile, Govindji reads about the award and learns that Kishen has a twin brother. He get alerted immediately and visits Kishen's house pretending to give a compensation to the family for his former employee. Kishen handles the situation well, but Govindji's doubt remains. Govindji abducts Akhila and tracks that Kishen is the one who is alive and tries to get Kishen come back to Mangalore. Finally Kishen decides to go and his father also learns the truth. He arrives in Mangalore and takes hand in hand with Jeevan. They capture all of Govindji's men in a single night and raids all of his hideouts. Kishen come to Govindji's bungalow and rescues Akhila. Govindji stands alone helplessly. Kishen tells Govindji that he is defeated, but he does not want to kill him. He hands his gun to Govindji. But instead of killing Kishen, Govindji commits suicide.

Cast

as Navneeth Krishnan "Kichu" a.k.a. Kishanji & Anantha Krishnan "Ananthu". (Double Role) *

as Govindji, a Mafia Don *

as Jeevan Commissioner of Police

Mangalore City The Mangalore City Corporation is the municipal corporation responsible for overseeing the local administration of the Indian city of Mangalore and it's suburbs, which are a major urban area and the most important port city of karnataka state. ...

as Muhammed Ibrahim *

as Akhila, Kichu's Love Interest. *

as Manikutty, Ananthu's Fiancée. *

as Kuruppu, Kichu's and Ananthu's Uncle, Manikutty's Father *

as Haridas, Kichu's and Ananthu's Father *

as Kichu's and Ananthu's Mother * Janardhanan as Sathyaprathapan, D. I. G. of Police *

as Advocate Potty, Govindji's Lawyer *

as Akhila's Mother *

Bala Singh Bala Singh (7 May 195227 November 2019) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil language films. After making his debut in Nassar's '' Avatharam'' (1995), he appeared as the antagonist in over a hundred films. Early life and career Bala Sin ...

as Mahendra Reddy, a Mafia Don and rival of Govindji *

as S. I. Sudhakaran Nair *

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...

as Pushpangadan *

as Mehaboob *

Baburaj Mohammad Sabir Baburaj was an Indian music composer. He is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. Baburaj has rendered music to many evergreen Malayalam film songs. Early years Baburaj was born on 9 March 1929 in Kozhikod ...

as Shetty * Master Sumith Rajan/Rejith Rajan as Suresh Gopi's childhood double role * Nandhu Pothuval as Subhramanyan,a gangster working for Mahendra Reddy * Kaviraj as Muttaiah, a gangster working for Govindji Actor

Motta Rajendran A. Rajendran,(born 1 June 1957) credited as Motta Rajendran or ''Naan Kadavul'' Rajendran, is an Indian stunt double and actor working mainly in Tamil cinema. He debuted in 2003 with the Tamil film ''Pithamagan'' and has worked as a stunt doub ...

appears as a gangster working for Mahendra Reddy.

Soundtrack

The music and background score for the film was composed by

Vidyasagar Vidyasagar or Vidya Sagar may refer to: People *Acharya Vidyasagar (born 1946), prominent Digambar Jain Acharya (1946-) * Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820–1891), Bengali scholar *Vidyasagar (composer) (born 1963), South Indian music director * ...

, with lyrics penned by

Gireesh Puthenchery Girish Puthenchery (1961–2010) was a noted Malayalam Lyricist, Poet, Scriptwriter and Screenwriter. He was always referred to as the aristocratic lyricist of Malayalam who had a distinctive writing style of his own. He also served as the dire ...

Reception

The film had a lukewarm reception at the box-office, although the songs were well received. The song 'Marannittumenthino' is still very popular among Keralites. However, the film had a surge in popularity since it has been released on DVD and when it was started airing on television. Many consider this to be one of the best action-drama films of the decade acclaiming performance of Suresh Gopi and Thilakan. The direction of Lal Jose was also praised.

References

External links

* {{Lal Jose 2000s Malayalam-language films 2001 films Indian crime drama films Indian gangster films Films about organised crime in India Fictional portrayals of the Karnataka Police Films scored by Vidyasagar Films set in Karnataka Films shot in Karnataka Films shot in Mangalore Films directed by Lal Jose