''Nandi Veendum Varika'' () is a 1986 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

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

produced by M. Sunil Kumar under SS Movie Production, directed by P. G. Viswambharan and written jointly by

Jagadish P. V. Jagadish Kumar, Born On (12 June 1955) mononymously as Jagadish, is an Indian actor, screenwriter, and television presenter. He has starred in over 400 Malayalam films and two Hindi films. He is best known for his comic and character rol ...

and

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such a ...

. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to the po ...

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-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...

Suresh Gopi Suresh Gopi (born 26 June 1958) is an Indian actor, playback singer, television presenter and politician who is currently serving as the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and the Minister of Tourism since June 2024. He was ele ...

Urvashi Urvashi (, ) is the most prominent apsara mentioned in the Hindu scriptures like the ''Vedas'', the epics ''Ramayana'' and ''Mahabharata'', as well as the ''Puranas''. She is regarded as the most beautiful of all the apsaras, and an expert danc ...

M. G. Soman M. G. Soman (28 October 1941 – 12 December 1997) was an Indian actor and former Indian Air Force officer who appeared in Malayalam films. He was one among the leading star actors doing hero roles in Malayalam Cinema during the late 1970s and ...

and

in the lead roles. The cinematography was handled by Vipin Mohan. The film features original songs and

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

composed by

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor) (1920–1951), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer) (born 1937), an Indian music composer from Kerala *Shya ...

. The film revolves around Mohandas C. K. (

), a teacher who on being forced by his father (

Sankaradi Paravoor memana Kanakku Chembakaraman Parameswaran Chandrashekara Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 70 ...

) joins the police force as a

Sub-inspector Sub-inspector (SI), or sub-inspector of police or police sub-inspector (PSI), is a rank used extensively in South Asia: in the police forces of Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka, which are primarily based on the British model. It was form ...

. However, he is reluctant to become a police officer as he is scared and cowardly in nature. He gets his first posting in a village were corruption is rampant. The plot explores how he overcomes his cowardly nature and brings the corrupt Ananthan Nair (

) to justice. The film was shot extensively in and around

Ottasekharamangalam Ottasekharamangalam is a village in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. Demographics India census, Ottasekharamangalam had a population of 19,345 with 9,322 males and 10,023 females. Religion Hinduism, Christianity, a ...

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram ( ), also known as Trivandrum, is the Capital city, capital city of the Indian state of Kerala. As of 2011, the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation had a population of 957,730 over an area of 214.86 sq. km, making it the ...

district.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

was done in 1-1.5 months. The film was released on 12 September 1986 on the occasion of

Onam Onam () is an annual harvest and Hindus, Hindu cultural festival celebrated mostly by the people of Kerala. A major annual event for Malayalis, Keralites, it is the official festival of the state and includes a spectrum of cultural events. H ...

and was a commercial success. The film was among the commercially successful films in which Mammootty had starred in that year. However, the film has over the years acquired a

cult following A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The latter is often called a cult classic. A film, boo ...

. The film was later remade into Tamil as ''

Kavalukku Kettikaran ''Kavalukku Kettikaran'' is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by Santhana Bharathi and written by M. Karunanidhi, starring Prabhu and Nirosha. It is a remake of the 1986 Malayalam film '' Nandi Veendum Varika''. The film was released ...

''.

Plot

Mohandas is the son of Chathukutty, a police constable, who dreams of making him a sub-inspector of police. Mohandas, however, is happy as a teacher in a tutorial college, and does not wish to take up the job as he is a coward by nature. He tries to fail the written exam for SI selection, but his father uses his influence to get him selected and then emotionally blackmails him to join. After finishing his training, he joins a police station in a village where Ananthan Nair is a de facto king. Ananthan Nair owns all the big businesses and is a close friend of the police big wigs, with whose help he indulges in a number of nefarious activities including bootlegging. He also exploits the poor farmers in the region. When Balan opposes his actions, he gets Balan beaten up by his goons, and rapes Balan's wife, who subsequently commits suicide. When Mohandas arrives to take charge at the local police station, he initially sides with Ananthan Nair due to his cowardice. With the help of Damodaran, another school teacher, he overcomes his fear and proceeds to help the population and take action against Ananthan Nair.

Cast

as Mohandas C. K. *

as Balan *

as Devayani Teacher *

as Ananthan Nair *

as Damodharan *

as Chathukutty *

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, T ...

as Madhavi *

Adoor Bhasi K. Bhaskaran Nair (1 March 1929 – 29 March 1990), professionally credited by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director. He was mostly cast as a sidekick to protagonists, particularly Prem Nazir. His comedic roles were w ...

as Vishnu Nampoothiri *

Kuthiravattam Pappu Padmadalakshan, better known by his stage name Kuthiravattam Pappu (24 December 1936 – 25 February 2000), was a popular Indian stage and film actor. His repertoire of acting was based on his unique style and use of the '' Kozhikodan'' dialect, ...

as Mukundan *

Poojappura Ravi Raveendran Nair (28 October 1936 – 18 June 2023), known by his stage name Poojappura Ravi, was an Indian actor who primarily performed comedy roles in Malayalam films. Career Poojappura Ravi was a stage actor and was a part of the drama ...

as Mathachan *

Jagannatha Varma K. N. Jagannatha Varma (1 May 1939 – 20 December 2016) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam film and television industry. He was also a Kathakali artist. His son Manu Varma is also an artist and his son-in-law Viji Thampi is a film d ...

Thodupuzha Vasanthi Thodupuzha Vasanthi was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. She appeared in over 450 movies and also in 16 tele-serials and 100 plays. She was a theater artist, before starting with small roles in movies. Her first full lengt ...

as Ananthan Nair's wife *

K. P. A. C. Azeez Azeez (27 November 1934 – 16 July 2003) was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 100 films. He came into the movie industry as a villain, and later, he started doing character roles, such as police officer, jailer, and mi ...

as Right hand of Ananthan Nair *

Uma Bharani Uma Bharani is an Indian actress who acts prominently in Tamil and Malayalam films. After acting only in a few films, she then started acting in Tamil serials. She is now a dubbing artist in Tamil movies and serials. Her mother was T. R. Latha, ...

as Balan's wife

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were written by Chunakkara Ramankutty.

Reception

The film was a commercial success

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0271665 1986 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Indian comedy-drama films Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram Malayalam films remade in other languages Films directed by P. G. Viswambharan