''Mazhavillu'' () is a 1999 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 thriller A romantic thriller is a narrative that combines elements of both the romance and thriller genres. The goal of romantic thrillers is to entertain audiences by evoking discomfort through moments of suspense along with heightened feelings of anxi ...

film directed by

Dinesh Baboo Dinesh Baboo (also known as Dinesh Babu) is an Indian film director, cinematographer, actor and screenwriter who works predominantly in Kannada cinema. In a career spanning five decades he has directed more than 40 films, filmed more than 20 fil ...

. It is a remake of director's own 1997

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 ...

movie ''

Amruthavarshini Amruthavarshini (Kannada: ಅಮೃತ ವರ್ಷಿಣಿ, Hindi: अमृत वर्षिणी ) 100.10 FM, is a classical music channel from All India Radio, Bangalore. It plays everyday from 6a.m. to 9:30a.m. in morning and in eveni ...

''. It stars

Kunchacko Boban Kunchacko Boban (born 2 November 1976) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in the Malayalam film industry. He is referred to as Chackochan, and during the early 2000s, he was called "chocolate boy" because of his romantic image. He ...

Preeti Jhangiani Preeti Jhangiani (born 18 August 1980) is an Indian actress who primarily works in Hindi and Telugu films. She made her acting debut with the Malayalam film '' Mazhavillu'' (1999) and her Hindi debut with the multi-starrer romantic film ''Moha ...

and

Vineeth Vineeth Radhakrishnan (born 23 August 1969) is an Indian actor, Bharatanatyam dancer, voice artist and choreographer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. He has also appeared in a few Hindi and Kannada films. He h ...

in the lead roles, with

Lalu Alex Lalu Alex is an Indian film actor who works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning four decades, Lalu Alex has acted in over 250 films and is known for his character roles, comic roles and antagonistic roles in the Malayalam film in ...

Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963) is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning around five decades, she has recorded over 25,000 Songs in various Indian languages languages such as Tamil, Kann ...

, and

Praveena Praveena is an Indian actress and dubbing artist who predominantly appears in Malayalam television series and films in addition to a few Tamil television series and films. She is known for portraying mother roles in films & television opera ...

in other pivotal roles.

Plot

Mahesh and Veena are a happily married couple living in Germany (Duesseldorf and Frankfurt) with Mahesh working for an amusement park called Prater. One day, Vijay Krishnan, a poet and Mahesh's childhood friend, visits them. Vijay is depressed as his girlfriend Neena died due to cancer. Neena had made Vijay promise that he will marry another girl after her death. Vijay becomes obsessed with Veena as she has a strong resemblance with Neena. Mahesh learns of this but doesn't reveal this to Veena. Mahesh takes Vijay to a cliff and asks him to change his mind and go back home. Vijay tries to kill Mahesh who slips and dies falling from the cliff. Vijay does not try to save him even though he could have. Mahesh's automatic camera captures the whole episode. When Veena accidentally sees those pictures, she understands what really happened on that day. She pretends to have moved on and suggests that she is ready to share her life with Vijay. She asks him to take her to the cliff where Mahesh died as it was Mahesh's long-cherished dream to take photos from the cliff. She then confronts Vijay and commits suicide from that cliff, in front of Vijay, as revenge.

Cast

as Mahesh Menon *

as Veena Mahesh *

as Vijay Krishnan *

as Varkeychan *

as Kathreena *

as Neena *

Kottayam Nazeer Kottayam Nazeer is an Indian actor, impressionist, and an artist from Kerala. Kottayam Nazeer started his career as a stage artist . Recently he also started his career in painting. Nazeer is a recipient of the Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akadem ...

Music

The film features a composed score and soundtrack by Mohan Sitara. The lyrics were penned by

Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri, popularly known as Kaithapram, is a Malayalam lyricist, poet, music director, actor, singer, screenwriter, music therapist and performer of Carnatic music. He debuted with the movie Ennennum Kannettante in 19 ...

. The soundtrack of ''Mazhavillu'' especially the songs "Ponnolathumbil" and "Raavin Nilakkayal" were well received. #"Kilivathil" -

K. S. Chithra Krishnan Nair Shantakumari Chithra (born 27 July 1963) is an Indian playback singer and Carnatic musician. In a career spanning around five decades, she has recorded over 25,000 Songs in various Indian languages languages such as Tamil, Kann ...

#"Kilivathil" -

K. J. Yesudas Kattassery Joseph Yesudas ( /jeːʃud̪aːs/; born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely considered one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian m ...

#"Ponnolathumbil" - K. S. Chithra, K. J. Yesudas #"Pulliman Kidave" - K. J. Yesudas, K.S.Chithra #"Pulliman Kidave" -

Srinivas Srinivasa (Sanskrit ) is a Hindu name. The term Srinivasa is Vaishnava in origin, the combination of two Sanskrit words, ''Shri'' (श्री) and ''nivasa'' (निवास). It is a name for males in India as well as a family surname. Shriniv ...

, K.S. Chithra #"Raavin Nilakkayal" - K. S. Chithra, K. J. Yesudas #"Sivadham" - K. S. Chithra, K. J. Yesudas

Reception

A critic rated the film and wrote that "This movie is like '' Talented Mr. Ripley'' even though this came out before ''Talented Mr. Ripley''". But the film ended up as a huge disaster in box office.

References

External links

* {{Dinesh Baboo 1990s Malayalam-language films Films scored by Mohan Sithara 1999 romantic drama films 1999 films Malayalam remakes of Kannada films Films directed by Dinesh Baboo Films set in Germany