''Thilakkam'' () is a 2003 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

black comedy film Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

directed by Jayaraj and written by Rafi Mecartin.

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 ...

, Kavya Madhavan, and Thiagarajan play the lead roles. The rest of the cast includes

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 ...

K. P. A. C. Lalitha Maheshwari Amma, better known by her stage name K. P. A. C. Lalitha (10 March 1947 – 22 February 2022), was an Indian film and stage actress who worked primarily in the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. Considered one of the greatest ...

Nishanth Sagar Nishanth Balakrishnan (born 8 June 1980), known professionally by his stage name Nishanth Sagar , is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Malayalam film industry. He has acted in over 50 films. Career Nishant Sagar made his Malayala ...

Jagathy Sreekumar Sreekumar Achary (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 deca ...

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 ...

Harisree Ashokan Harisree Ashokan (born 6 April 1964) is an Indian actor and director who is known for his comedy roles in Malayalam films. Ashokan has acted in more than 200 Malayalam films. He started his career as a mimicry artist in the troupe Harisree and ...

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 ...

, and Bindu Panicker. It was remade in Kannada as '' Nandeesha'' in 2012, starring Komal.

Plot

Padmanabhan master and his wife Devaki are waiting for Unni, their only son who has been missing for many years. Ten-year-old Unni gets lost in the crowd during a temple festival where he went with his neighbour, Panicker , popularly known as Poorappanikkar. Panicker too did not go back to the village as he decided to return only after finding Unni. Panicker's daughter Ammu also believes, like the Padmaabhan and Devaki, that her father will return one day with Unni. The master publishes a photo made by an artist based on assumptions of older Unni in the newspaper. He finds his son after years at Nagappattinam and brings him to the village. Soon, the villagers realises that Unni is abnormal and mentally challenged. He behaves like a small boy and creates all sorts of trouble to the villagers and his parents. His main hobby is to snatch

mundu The mundu (Malayalam: ; ) is a garment worn around the waist in the Indian states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, the Lakshadweep archipelago, and the Indian Ocean island nation of Maldives. It is closely related to sarongs like dhotis and lungis ...

from people. This leads to a series of comical incidents in the village. He is given Ayurveda treatment under the guidance of the church priest Fr. Stephen. Ammu looks after Unni, to which her cousin Gopikkuttan objects, as he loves her. Meanwhile, Panicker returns to the village. Gopikuttan tries to turn Panicker against Unni. Eventually, Ammu falls in love with Unni and waits for his recovery to marry him. Finally, during a fight with Gopikkuttan, Unni tries to save him by holding onto his mundu when Gopikkuttan is about to fall off a cliff. Unni gets his memory of his past back and reveals the truth to Ammu that he is actually Vishnu, the son of a

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

underworld gangster Maheshwaran Thampi. Vishnu disapproves of Thampi's lifestyle, and lives separately from his father. He falls in love with Gauri, an orphan girl and decides to marry her against his father's wishes. Vishnu and Gauri's friends arrange a secret party for them. Thampi learns about the party and its location. His men attack the place, and during the commotion, Gauri falls down even though Vishnu tries to save her. Due to this, Vishnu lost his memory and became mentally challenged. In the present, Thampi visits Vishnu and asks him to come home. Vishnu refuses initially but agrees to go along after Padmanabhan Master asks him to do so. At his home, Thampi tells Vishnu that he realised his mistake and for the mistakes he made, Vishnu and Gauri were the ones who were punished. Thampi informs him that Gauri is not dead but is bedridden. Before her death, she wanted to meet Vishnu as her last wish which Thampi fulfills. Gauri asks Vishnu to marry Ammu and to bring her to Gauri. The film ends with Vishnu marrying Ammu, and Krishnankutty, Unni's friend and a village tailor, snatching his dhothi.

Cast

as Vishnu / Unnikrishnan (mistaken) * Kavya Madhavan as Ammu, Unni's neighbour and love interest * Thiagarajan as Maheswaran Thampi, Unni's biological father (voiceover by Sai Kumar) *

as Padmanabhan Master, Unni's stepfather *

as Fr. Stephen, the parish priest *

as Devakiamma, Unni's stepmother *

as Gunda Bhaskaran *

as Tailor Krishnankutty, Unni's friend *

as Omanakkuttan, Unni's brother-in-law * Oduvil Unnikrishnan as Poorappanikkar, Ammu's father * Bindu Panicker as Vanaja, Unni's sister *

as Gopikkuttan * Mamukkoya as Pathrose, postman *

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 Kunjavara, the sexton *

Kalabhavan Shajon Shaji John, professionally credited by his stage name Kalabhavan Shajohn is an Indian actor, director and comedian who works primarily in Malayalam cinema. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan, Kochi. Making his debut in 199 ...

as 1st Mahout * Kochu Preman as Swaminathan, a Velichappad * Priyanka Anoop as Panjavarnam * Hakim Rawther as Ajayan, 2nd Mahout * Subbalakshmi as Ammu's grandmother * Mahalakshmi *

Bhavana ''Bhāvanā'' (Pali;Rhys Davids & Stede (1921–25), p. 503, entry for "Bhāvanā," retrieved 9 December 2008 from "U. Chicago" a Sanskrit: भावना, also ''bhāvanā''Monier-Williams (1899), p. 755, see "Bhāvana" and "Bhāvanā", retri ...

as Gauri, Vishnu's love interest and killed by Vishnu's mistaked (guest role)

Soundtrack

The music is composed by Kaithapram Viswanathan Namboothiri. "Neeyoru Puzhayay" and "Enikkoru Pennundu" were popular tracks.

Box office

The film was declared a commercial success.

Awards

* Kerala State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer - P. Jayachandran for the song ''Neeyoru Puzhayayi''

References

External links

* . {{DEFAULTSORT:Thilakkam (Film) 2003 films 2000s Malayalam-language films Films shot in Palakkad Films shot in Ottapalam Malayalam films remade in other languages