''Kunjikoonan'' () is a 2002 Indian

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

-language

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a sub-genre of comedy and Romance novel, romance fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount all obstacles. Ro ...

film directed by

Sasi Shanker Sasi Shanker (1957 – 10 August 2016) was an Indian film director. He directed a total of twelve films including ten Malayalam films and two Tamil films. He won the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues in 1993 for his direc ...

and produced by

Milan Jaleel Milan Jaleel is an Indian film producer and distributor mainly works in Malayalam cinema Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam, Mala ...

. The film's script was written by Benny P. Nayarambalam, based on his own stage play ''Vikalanga Varsham''. It stars

Dileep Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, better known by his stage name Dileep, is an Indian actor, producer, comedian and entrepreneur who predominantly works in the Malayalam film industry. He has also acted in Tamil, Hindi, and Kannada films. He has ...

Navya Nair Navya Nair (born Dhanya Veena; 14 October 1985) is an Indian actress who has appeared predominantly in Malayalam cinema along with a few Kannada and Tamil language films. Early and personal life Navya Nair was born Dhanya Veena on 14 October ...

and Manya. Dileep plays dual roles in this movie and won

Asianet Film Awards The Asianet Film Awards is an award ceremony for films presented annually by Asianet, a Malayalam-language television network from the south-Indian state of Kerala. Asianet says an awards ceremony has been instituted to honour artistic and ...

for Best Actor. The film was later remade into different Indian languages, such as ''

Perazhagan ''Perazhagan'' ( ) is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sasi Shanker and produced by AVM Productions. It is a remake of the director's 2002 Malayalam film '' Kunjikoonan'' which itself was adapted from the play ''Vikalan ...

'' (2004) in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

and ''Manmatha'' (2006) in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

. The film was commercially success at box office and Dileep's handicap character was praised by the critics.

Plot

The story revolves around Vimal Kumar alias Kunjan, a village

telephone booth A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box, telephone box or public call box is a tiny structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience; typically the user steps into the booth and closes the boot ...

owner who is sympathized for his

hunchback Kyphosis () is an abnormally excessive convex curvature of the spine as it occurs in the thoracic and sacral regions. Abnormal inward concave ''lordotic'' curving of the cervical and lumbar regions of the spine is called lordosis. It can ...

looks and is lauded for selfless service to others. He covers up his handicap with humor. Unmindful of his looks, Vimal goes around seeking a suitable bride with the help of his friend, Thoma. Brushing aside many an insult hurled at him, he carries on. He carried the hardships of his life on his back and the pain of others too. He was of peak human morals, a man of great virtue. In contrast to him is Prasad, a violent college student and a well-talented

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player, who loves his classmate, Lakshmi. She comes across Vimal, who assures her that he will get her married to the man of her heart. However, she is killed in a fracas by a dreaded gangster named Vasu. Prasad gets accused of the murder and is jailed. Vimal saves Prasad by telling Lakshmi's father, CI Madhavan, that Vasu actually killed her and he was helping them elope and get married. Vasu gets arrested and Prasad gets released. Meanwhile, Vimal comes across an orphaned blind girl, Chembagam. He wins her heart by helping her out. Thanks to his efforts, Chembagam regains her vision, through Lakshmi's eyes. This results in a tussle between Vimal and Prasad, as to whom Chembagam belongs now. However, fearing his looks, Vimal decides to leave way for the other after he sees Prasad and Chembagam together and misunderstands them. Thoma later finds him and tells him that Chembagam is waiting for him. They decide to get married, but on the night before their wedding, Vasu comes to Vimal's house to kill him. After he learns that Vimal is going to get married, Vasu tries to rape Chembagam. Vimal saves her, but Vasu tries to kill Vimal. When she runs away, Prasad catches her. When he sees Vasu going to kill Vimal, he saves him by fighting off Vasu and kills him, thereby avenging Lakshmi's death. Prasad approves Kunjan and Chembagam before being sent to jail.

Cast

in dual role as: **Vimal Kumar (Kunjan), a hunchbacked

owner **Prasad, a short-tempered college student and sports player *

as Chembakam, Kunjan's love interest * Manya as Lakshmi, Prasad's love interest * Sai Kumar as 'Garudan' Vasu, the main antagonist *

Cochin Haneefa Cochin Haneefa (22 April 1951 – 2 February 2010) was an Indian actor, film director, and screenwriter. He started his career in the 1970s mainly portraying villainous roles, before going on to become one of the most popular comedians of Malay ...

as Thoma, Kunjan's friend *

Salim Kumar Salim Kumar (born 10 October 1969) is an Indian actor, comedian, director and writer in Malayalam cinema. Mostly known for his comic and comedy roles, Salim Kumar is considered one of the best and most prominent comedians in the history of Mala ...

as Chandran, Thoma's associate *

Machan Varghese M. L. Varghese, (1960 – 3 February 2011) popularly known by stage name Machan Varghese, was a Malayalam film actor and mimicry artist. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan (house of arts) and debuted as an actor through '' ...

as Divakaran *

Bindu Panicker Bindu Panicker is an Indian actress who has more than 200 films to her credit. She has played both comedy and character roles in Malayalam cinema. Critically acclaimed for her performance in 2001 for Soothradharan. She was a member of the Asso ...

as Aishumma, Kunjan's adopted mother *

Guinness Pakru Ajay Kumar (born 31 August 1976), better known as Guinness Pakru, is an Indian actor and television personality, who primarily works in Malayalam cinema, and some Tamil films. He has also served as a judge on several Malayalam television comedy ...

as Suhasini (voice dubbed by Anandavalli) *

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 M ...

Constable A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions. ''Constable'' is commonly the rank of an officer within a police service. Other peo ...

Padmanabhan, Prasad's father *Manka Mahesh as Prasad's mother *

Spadikam George George Antony, popularly credited as Spadikam George is an Indian actor who primarily works in Malayalam films. He came to the limelight with the 1995 film '' Spadikam'', after which his name was preceded by the name of that film. George's perf ...

as CI Madhavan, Lakshmi's father * Reena as Lakshmi's mother *

Ponnamma Babu Ponnamma Babu is an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam cinema. She has acted in more than 300 films, TV serials and comedy shows. She made her debut in ''Padanayakan'' in 1996. Personal life Ponnamma was born to Mathai and ...

Narayanankutty Narayanan Kutty or Kalabhavan Narayanankutty is a Malayalam film actor. He has acted in more than 300 films. He handles mainly comedy roles. Background Narayanan Kutty was born Ernakulam. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan ...

as Chayakada owner *

Johny Antony Johny Antony is an Indian film director and actor, known for making comedy films in Malayalam cinema. He is from Changanassery in Kottayam district, Kerala. He worked for about a decade as an associate to directors Thulasidas, Taha, Kamal an ...

as a caller at the Telephone booth (special appearance) *Deepika Mohan *

Nithya Das Nithya Das is an Indian actress who works prominently in Malayalam cinema along with Malayalam and Tamil television series. Career Das was active in the film industry during the early 2000s. She started her career with the 2001 film '' Ee Par ...

in a

cameo role A cameo appearance, also called a cameo role and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief guest appearance of a well-known person or character in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking one ...

as Kunjan's dream wife

Production

Filming

The film was mainly shot at various locations in

Thodupuzha Thodupuzha () is a municipality and taluk in the Idukki district of Kerala, India. It is located west of the district headquarters in Painavu and about north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. As per the 2011 Indian census, Thodupu ...

. It was filmed in 83 days.

Soundtrack

The songs of this movie were composed by

Mohan Sithara Mohan Sithara (born 30 May 1959) is an Indian music composer. He received the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Music Director (2009) for the songs in Priyanandan's ''Soofi Paranja Kadha''. Since 1986 he has been an active musician in the Mal ...

and penned by

Yusufali Kechery Yusufali Kechery (Yūsaphali Kēccēri; 16 May 1934 – 21 March 2015) was a poet, film lyricist, film producer and director from Kerala, India. He wrote during the modern era of Malayalam poetry and won the Odakkuzhal Award, the Kerala Sahi ...

. In 2002,

Radhika Thilak Radhika Jayathilakan (1969 – 20 September 2015), known by her stage name Radhika Thilak, was an Indian playback singer who predominantly worked in the Malayalam film industry. She sang 70 songs for Malayalam films. Career Some of her songs a ...

received best female playback singer award from

Kerala film critics association The Kerala Film Critics Association Awards are presented annually by the Kerala Film Critics Association to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Malayalam language film industry of India. The awards were instit ...

for the song "Omanamalare Ninmaran".

Reception

A critic from ''Nowrunning'' wrote that "Dileep scores again with his new release kunjikoonan. This time he comes in double role, one that of a handicap and has excelled in the role and the other as handsome college boy which is not worth mentioning. Those who expect an entertainer like 'Meesha Madhavan' are likely to be disappointed, at least to some extent". A critic from ''

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

'' wrote that "The highlight of the film is Dileep in the title role and he is extraordinary. Here is one of his most lovable performances as the handicap, though as the handsome Prasad he just passes muster.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0356803, Kunjikoonan 2000s Malayalam-language films 2002 romantic comedy-drama films Indian romantic comedy-drama films 2002 films Malayalam films remade in other languages Films about disability in India Films shot in Thodupuzha Films scored by Mohan Sithara Indian films based on plays Twins in Indian films Films directed by Sasi Shanker