''Agnidevan'' () is a 1995 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

family drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

film directed by

Venu Nagavalli Venu Nagavally (16 April 1949 – 10 September 2010) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director best known for his work in Malayalam film industry. He has directed 12 films. Son of writer, commentator, and broadcaster Nagavally R. S. Kurup, ...

and co-written by

P. Balachandran Padmanabhan Balachandran Nair (2 February 1952 – 5 April 2021) was an Indian writer, playwright, scenarist, director, and actor. He was known for his work in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. Career Balachandran is best known for ...

and Nagavalli. It stars

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appe ...

and

Revathi Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her stage name Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in Tamil & Malayalam cinema - in addition to Telugu, Hindi & Kannada films. She has won severa ...

. The plot deals with the struggle for leadership of a family-owned newspaper firm causing the family to split apart. Agnidevan was released on October 23 during the

Diwali Diwali (), Dewali, Divali, or Deepavali ( IAST: ''dīpāvalī''), also known as the Festival of Lights, related to Jain Diwali, Bandi Chhor Divas, Tihar, Swanti, Sohrai, and Bandna, is a religious celebration in Indian religions. It i ...

holiday period. The film features music composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan.

Plot

The story is about the conflict between two brothers who share the legacy of "Malayalam Shabdam", a newspaper company owned by their family, the ''Ezhuthupura''

Tharavadu Tharavad () (തറവാട്), is the Malayalam word for the ancestral home of aristocratic families in Kerala, which usually served as the common house for the joint family system practiced in the state. The German linguist Hermann Gunder ...

. Their roles as the main writers and publishers of a daily newspaper come to the forefront of their rivalry with each other. While one brother Rama Varma a.k.a. 'Appan' ( Devan) has a clinical business oriented attitude to growing the newspaper industry that he heads, the younger brother Ravi Varma a.k.a. 'Aniyankuttan' (

) feels very emotional and passionate about the craft of writing and reporting. He gives everything to enrich his relationships and cannot understand how to approach it with business goals because writing, in itself, marks tradition, legacy and so much more in their family of distinguished writers, such as their poetess grandmother, Vishwalakshmi Thampuratti (

Rohini Hattangadi Rohini Hattangadi (''née'' Oak; born 11 April 1955) is an Indian actress, known for her work in Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, and Gujarati films, and Marathi soap operas and theatre. She has won two Filmfare Awards, one National F ...

), their editor father, K. K. Menon (

Bharat Gopy Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair (2 November 1937 – 29 January 2008), popularly known by the stage name Bharat Gopy, was an Indian actor, producer and director. He was one of the first actors to be associated with the New Wave cinema movement in K ...

), and their writer cousin, Sudarshana (

). To add more fuel to the family feud, Appan is manipulated by their company's sinister manager Anantharaman (

Ratheesh Ratheesh (1954–2002) was an Indian actor best known for his work in Malayalam cinema. He was a native of Kalavoor in the Alappuzha district of Kerala, India. He performed villainous roles during the 1990s. He had acted in 158 films with dir ...

) who has ulterior motives to fulfill by capturing the newspaper firm. The innocent love between Aniyankuttan and Sudhu and Appan's interference in their relation to gain the empire and lady upon the corrupt advices of Anantharaman is accurately depicted in the film. We also get to see the escalating differences between Aniyankuttan's flamboyant and modern mother, who whiles away her time playing rummy and partying with her friends in the ladies'club and supporting her elder son's diktats, and his intellectual and down to earth father- who considers that his life is incomplete without writing. The heart-touching relationship between Aniyankuttan and his grandmother has always stayed in the hearts and minds of the Malayali audience till date. How the younger brother wins his grandmother's and their newspaper's rich legacy by becoming a wealthy liquor baron to take back the company from the hands of Anantharaman is the rest of the film. The film ends with the grandmother passing away due to her unbearable grief of seeing her family breaking away into pieces due to differences and fights. Anantharaman is beaten up and banished away by Aniyan and his friends when he tries to usurp the grandmother's house. Her death and her burning

pyre A pyre ( grc, πυρά; ''pyrá'', from , ''pyr'', "fire"), also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the ...

make Appan and his mother realize their mistakes and unites all the estranged family members once again. Aniyankuttan, after being united with Sudarshana, takes a wow before his beloved grandmother's burning pyre that he will never let the family become disunited.

Cast

as Ravi "Aniyankuttan" Varma *

as Vishwalakshmi Thampuratti ('Muttashi')- the elderly matriarch of the Ezhuthupura family; Aniyankuttan's maternal grandmother *

as Anantharaman *

as Sudarshana (Sudhu), Aniyankuttan's cousin * Devan as Rama "Appan" Varma, Aniyankuttan's elder brother *

as K. K. Menon, Appan's and Aniyan's father *

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar (born 12 June 1955) known mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, television presenter and former politician. He has starred in over 375 Malayalam films and 2 Hindi films. He is best known for his co ...

as Murukan * Sukumari as Kochammini, Sudhu's mother *

Karamana Janardhanan Nair Karamana Janardanan Nair (25 July 1936 – 24 April 2000) was a Malayalam film actor, who was active during the 1980s and 1990s. He was especially known for his character roles. He won wide acclaim especially for the role of the protagonis ...

as Vasudeva Warrier * Kavitha as Parvathi Varma, Muttasshi's daughter and Aniyankuttan's mother *

Maniyanpilla Raju Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam:മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.Mala Aravindan Mala Aravindan (15 January 1939 – 28 January 2015) was an Indian actor. He was best known for his work as a comedian and character artist in Malayalam films. He has acted in over 500 films. Early life He was born in Vadavucode, Ernakulam ...

as Vijayan, the mahout *

Poojappura Ravi Raveendran Nair, known by his stage name Poojappura Ravi is an Indian actor, primarily concentrating in Malayalam films doing comedy roles. He was a stage actor and was a part of ''Kalanilyam Drama Vision'', the famous drama institution. He sta ...

as Payapaddan *

Mohan Jose Mohan Jose is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted more than 100 films. He came into movie industry portraying villains and later began acting in different comedy and character roles. He is the son of famous singer Pappukutty Bhag ...

as Jacob *

Beena Antony Beena Antony is an Indian actress appearing in Malayalam film and television. She mainly appeared in supporting roles in films and television serials in her later career, including ''Ommanathinkalpakshi'', ''Mayaseetha'', '' Ente Manasaputhri' ...

as Daughter of Vasudeva Warrier *

as 'Edakka' Marar *

Captain Raju Raju Daniel (27 June 1950 – 17 September 2018), better known by his stage name Captain Raju, was an Indian army officer and Indian actor. He acted in more than 600 films in various languages, including Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kan ...

as Pareed *

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 ...

as Sathyan, Sudhu's uncle *

Valsala Menon Valsala Menon (born 1945) is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam films. She has acted in over 200+ films. Currently she is active in Malayalam television serials. Early life Valsala Menon was born in 1945 to Raman Menon and Devakiyamma in ...

as Ashram Head * Kollam Ajith as Victor Raj, a goon * James Stalin as Minister

Production

The film was shot in

Guruvayoor Guruvayur () is a municipal temple town in Thrissur District, of Kerala State in India. It is a suburban town of Thrissur city, located from Thrissur towards the north-west. It houses the Guruvayur Shri Krishna Temple. It is located at ...

Soundtrack

The film includes songs written by lyricist

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 direc ...

and composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan. The songs became chartbusters especially "Nilavinte Neela Bhasmam" sung by

M. G. Sreekumar Malabar Gopalan Sreekumar (born 25 May 1957), better known as M.G. Sreekumar is an Indian playback singer, composer, music producer, television presenter and film producer, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He has sung more than 200 ...

. The soundtrack album was released by Millennium Audios on 15 October 1995. Puthenchery won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyricist for this film.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0291711
''Agnidevan''
at the Malayalam Movie Database 1995 films 1990s Malayalam-language films Indian drama films Indian family films Films shot in Thrissur Films scored by M. G. Radhakrishnan Films directed by Venu Nagavally