''Utharam'' ( eng, Answer) is a 1989

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 ...

mystery-

thriller film Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre. ...

, 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 ...

Suparna Suparna may refer to: * Suparna Anand, Indian actor * Garuda, divine bird in Hindu and Buddhist mythology * Suparna Airlines, airline based in China * Suparna (film) ''Suparna'' ( si, සුපර්ණා) is a 2020 Sri Lankan Sinhala fantasy ...

Sukumaran Edappal Ponnamkuzhi Veettil Parameswaran Sukumaran Nair (10 June 1948 – 16 June 1997), known mononymously as Sukumaran, was an Indian actor and producer of Malayalam films. Sukumaran became a popular film star in Malayalam cinema during the ...

and Parvathy. It was written by

writer

M. T. Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair (born 1933 July 15 ), popularly known as MT, is an Indian author, screenplay writer and film director. He is a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and is one of the masters of post- ...

based on the short story ''No Motive'' by

Daphne du Maurier Dame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning, (; 13 May 1907 – 19 April 1989) was an English novelist, biographer and playwright. Her parents were actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and his wife, actress Muriel Beaumont. Her grandfather was Georg ...

. Utharam is considered one of the best investigative thrillers in Malayalam cinema.

Plot

Selina Joseph (

), a budding poet leading a very happy family life, commits suicide on a very "usual" day by shooting herself with her husband's gun. The police write this off as a freak accident, but her husband planter Mathew (

) realizes that it was a suicide. He is perplexed as to the motive of her action. He becomes increasingly depressed and drowns his worries in alcohol. Balachandran Nair (

), a Delhi-based journalist, and close friend of Mathew, who was close to both Selina and Mathew, decides to look into the reasons that led her to commit suicide. He advises Mathew to stop drinking and ruining his health, as Selina wouldn't have wanted that. Mathew and the household servants confirm that Selina was very happy with her life and there was no motive for her suicide. Balu starts his investigation of Selina's past by tracking down different people from her past. Balu focuses on Selina's school days after a relative reveals that Selina had to discontinue her school after she was badly injured in a bus accident during a school trip. Balu sets off to

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

and promises to keep in touch with Mathew via letter or telephone. Balu finds out from the school principal that there was no accident, but Selina was dismissed when it was found that she was pregnant. Balu meets Selina's school mate Prof. Shyamala Menon ( Parvathy), who had lost touch with Selina after she discontinued her grade 10 studies abruptly. Selina and Shyamala were best friends in their school days. Though hesitant at first, Shyamala narrates an incident from their school days, and Balu realizes, the truth behind the pregnancy. Balu finds out that after Selina was dismissed from school, her father arranges for her to deliver the child without anyone knowing about the pregnancy. As she was unaware of circumstances that lead to her getting pregnant, she considered herself to be a virgin and called her son

Immanuel Immanuel ( he, עִמָּנוּאֵל, 'Īmmānū'ēl, meaning, "God is with us"; also romanized: , ; and or in Koine Greek of the New Testament) is a Hebrew name that appears in the Book of Isaiah (7:14) as a sign that God will protect the ...

, meaning the son of the Holy Virgin Mary. Her child was moved to an orphanage by her father Antony (

Karamana Janardanan Nair Karamana Janardanan Nair (25 July 1936 – 24 April 2000) was a Malayalam film actor, who was active during the 1980s and 1990s. He was especially known for his character roles. He won wide acclaim especially for the role of the protagonis ...

) without her knowledge. Selena loses her memory after a car accident and forgets her child. After this, Balu decides to find out if anything unusual had taken place on the day of her suicide. The house help tells him that a rag picker boy was caught stealing from the yard on the day and Selina had asked the child for his name. Upon hearing that his name was Immanuel Antony, Selena realizes that it was her son. Seeing her son after a decade as a rag picker, she is shocked and commits suicide. Balu decides not to reveal the unpleasant truth to Mathew. The film ends with Shyamala and Balu falling in love with each other, finding Immanuel - Selina's son, and adopting him for Selina.

Cast

as Balachandran Balu *

as Selina Joseph a.k.a. Leena *

as Mathew a.k.a. Mathukkutty * Parvathy as Shyamala Menon *

as Antony a.k.a. Kunnathurachan *

Innocent Innocence is a lack of guilt, with respect to any kind of crime, or wrongdoing. In a legal context, innocence is to the lack of legal guilt of an individual, with respect to a crime. In other contexts, it is a lack of experience. In relatio ...

as Nanu * Sankaradi as Achuvettan * Sukumari as Molly Aunty *Chandran Nair as Kapyar Mathai * V. K. Sreeraman as Superintendent *

Valsala Menon Valsala Menon (born 1945) is an Indian actress who works in Malayalam films. She has acted in over 200+ films. Currently she is active in Malayalam television serials. Early life Valsala Menon was born in 1945 to Raman Menon and Devakiyamma in ...

as Warden Annie *

Santhakumari Santha Kumari (born Vellaala Subbamma; 17 May 1920 – 16 January 2006) was an Indian musical artist and actress. She was married to the Telugu film director and producer P. Pullayya. Early years Vellaala Subbamma was born in Proddatur town, ...

as Nurse *

Jayalalitha Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December ...

as Dr. Malathi Krishna * Jagannathan as Manager Subrahmaniyam *Thrissur Elsy as Annamma chettathi *Akbar as 'Principal *Murukan as Immanuel *James as narayanan *Shanthi as nurse

Soundtrack

All songs are composed by Vidhyadharan with lyrics by

O. N. V. Kurup Ottaplakkal Neelakandan Velu Kurup (known as O. N. V. Kurup; 27 May 1931 – 13 February 2016) was a Malayalam poet and lyricist from Kerala, India, who won the Jnanpith Award, the highest literary award in India for the year 2007. He receive ...

. The background score of the film was done by

Johnson Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=0253873 1980s Malayalam-language films 1980s mystery thriller films Indian mystery thriller films Films scored by Vidhyadharan Films with screenplays by M. T. Vasudevan Nair