''Manu Uncle'' is a 1988 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 comedy-drama film directed by Dennis Joseph and produced by Joy Thomas. Starring

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada ...

, M. G. Soman,

Prathapachandran Prathapachandran (1941–2004) was an Indian actor, who worked predominantly in Malayalam film industry, though he acted in a few Tamil and Telugu movies as well. He known for the portrayal of villainous and character roles in over 300 movies. ...

, Lissy, and B. Thyagarajan.

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 ...

made a cameo appearance as himself. The film won a National Award for Best Children's Film. The film ran for 100 days ending up as a hit performance in the theatres. Suresh Gopi also appeared in a cameo role, playing the character ''S.I Minnal Prathapan.'' The character eventually developed a

cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal ...

following several years after the release of the film.

Plot

Manu(

) is a researcher in astronomy. Manu's father ( M. G. Soman) is a police officer. Lissy plays the role of Manu's sister Uma. Ravunni, an exporter, is their family friend. Antony ( K. P. A. C. Azeez) and Mary ( K. P. A. C. Lalitha) are neighbours of Manu. Their children are Dany a.k.a. Lother and Ikru. Manu's elder sister (

Jalaja Jalaja is an Indian actress in Malayalam films who was active during the 1970s and 1980s. She had won Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 1981 for the movie Venal directed by Lenin Rajendran. Pe ...

)'s children come from

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

for their vacation. They are accompanied by Dany and Ikru which make up a four-member team headed by Dany. The children happen to visit the Art Museum on the very same time when

Marthanda Varma Anizham Thirunal Marthanda Varma (Malayalam: ) was the founding monarch of the southern Indian Kingdom of Travancore (previously Venadu) from 1729 until his death in 1758. He was succeeded by Rama Varma ("Dharma Raja") (1758–98).Subrahman ...

's Crown is stolen. Ikru noticed the robbers, Gomez, Appu and Kittu but was not able to describe them to his Grandpa. Manu, who has a well-equipped communication system, is able to listen to a conversation between Kittu and Gomez planning to loot Marthanda Varma's Sword. Manu informs his father about the plan, and they both rush to Padmanabhapuram Palace. Gomez ( B. Thyagarajan), meanwhile already gets hold of the sword and while escaping the palace encounters Manu and his father. A fight follows in which Manu is injured by Gomez; now Manu's father is in pursuit of the robbers alone. But the robbers kill Manu's father in a planned lorry accident. The viewers are just now able to figure out the mastermind behind the robbery is; Ravunni, the family friend. Unfortunately for him though, the incident was witnessed by Khader, a young orphan who happened to be in that lorry. The robbers try to catch the boy, but the boy manages to escape from them and in the process ends up meeting the four children, and tells them that their Grandpa was not dead in an accident but was killed. The curious children decide to investigate the murder. While intercepting a portable radio conversation between Gomez and Ravunni, the latter discloses his identity to Manu. Ravunni threatens Manu to stay away from his illegal export activities and warns Manu that, he will meet his father's fate. Ikiru who had already met Gomez drew his picture which is noticed by Manu and Ravunni. Ravunni gets shocked seeing the drawing and Manu decides to garner more information about Ravunni after watching his tensed face. Manu breaks into Ravunni's house and validates his doubts. The children meanwhile decide to venture to the gang's hideout as per the directions from Khader. They are shocked on realising that it was Ravunni leading the gang. The gang sees the children who crossed their fence and Ravunni directs his men to kill them. But, soon Manu reaches there and saves the children. The movie ends with the robbers getting arrested by the police.

Cast

as Manu, an aspiring scientist * Kuriyachan as Dany a.k.a. Lother * Amit as Ikru * Anoop C. Parameswaran as Shanku *

Sonia Sonia, Sonja or Sonya, a name of Greek origin meaning wisdom, may refer to: People * Sonia (name), a feminine given name (lists people named, Sonia, Sonja and Sonya) :* Sonia (actress), Indian film actress in Malayalam and Tamil films :* So ...

as Renu * Sandeep as Khader * Lissy as Uma * M. G. Soman as DYSP, Manu's father * K. P. A. C. Azeez as Antony, Dany's and Ikru's father * K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Mary, Dany's and Ikru's mother *

as Ravunni Menon, Manu's family friend * R. Thyagarajan as Gomez * Murali Menon as Kittu * Mohan Jose as Security Guard at Ravunni Menon's house *

as Manu's sister *

as Himself, cameo appearance in a restaurant * Suresh Gopi cameo appearance as SI 'Minnal' Prathapan

Crew

* Story and Direction ..... Dennis Joseph * Screenplay, Dialogues and Lyrics .... Shibu Chakravarthy * Producer .... Joy Thomas * Distribution .... Jubilee Productions * Cinematography ....

Jayanan Vincent Jayanan Vincent is an Indian cinematographer. He is the son of cinematographer and director, A. Vincent, and elder brother to Ajayan Vincent. He is known for his work in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi films and he is a member of the In ...

* Editor .... K. Shankunny * Stunt .... A. R. Basha * Art Direction .... Sabu Pravadas * Associate Direction .... Jimmy * P. R. O. .... Ranji Kottayam * Stills .... R. Sukumar * Make up .... Thomas * Costume Design .... Kumar

Awards

* National Film Award for Best Children's Film * Kerala State Film Award for Best Children's Film

Soundtrack

Composer: Shyam; Lyricist: Shibu Chakravarthy *"Mele Veettile" .... K. S. Chithra *"Oru Kili" .... K. S. Chithra &

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 ...

Trivia

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar P. K. (born 5 January 1951), better known by his stage name Jagathy Sreekumar or simply Jagathy, is an Indian actor, director and playback singer, who has appeared in over 1500 Malayalam films in a career spanning almost four decad ...

was originally supposed to play the role of SI 'Minnal' Prathapan, but he had other commitments during that time.Top 5 Last Minute Changes That was Worth Gold
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Aliens (film) ''Aliens'' is a 1986 science fiction action film written and directed by James Cameron. It is the sequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film '' Alien'', and the second film in the ''Alien'' franchise. The film is set in the far future; ...

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (or simply ''E.T.'') is a 1982 American science fiction film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Melissa Mathison. It tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, d ...

& Close Encounters of the Third Kind were cited in this movie as a comparison to Manu's encounter with a cockroach through the telescope.

References

External links

* {{Dennis Joseph 1980s Malayalam-language films 1988 films Indian children's films Films shot in Kollam Best Children's Film National Film Award winners Films directed by Dennis Joseph 1988 directorial debut films