''Vamanapuram Bus Route'' is a 2004 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-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film directed by Sonu Shishupal and written by Sudheesh John, starring

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...

and Lakshmi Gopalaswamy. Shishupal also composed the songs featured in the film, while C. Rajamani provided the

background score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

. The film was released on 23 January 2004.

Plot

The hamlet of Vamanapuram has no bus service. The conflict between the ruling party and the opposition in the Panchayath prevents any development in the village. The Panchayath President Gopalan Nair's ambition is to become a minister or at least a member of the Legislative Assembly. To finance his plans, he wants to pave the roads with asphalt and get funds from it. But the opposition stirs up trouble every time he tries. Then comes Lever Johnny and how he solves the problems forms the rest of the story.

Cast

as Lever Johnny, Johnnychayan * Lakshmi Gopalaswamy as Meenakshi Nair *

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 ...

as Gopalan Nair, Panchayat President and Meenakshi's father * Janardhanan as Bahuleyan * Adithya Menon as Karippidi Gopi *

Nandhu Nandalal Krishnamoorthy, better known by his stage name Nandu, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Malayalam films. He has worked in the industry for more than 30 years and is acclaimed for his performance in Mohanlal's ''Spirit (2012 fil ...

as Kuttappan *

Oduvil Unnikrishnan Oduvil Unnikrishnan (13 February 1943 – 27 May 2006) was an Indian actor who worked in Malayalam cinema. He has portrayed supporting roles in both dramatic and comedic roles.The HindMalayalam film actor Oduvil Unnikrishnan dead He is a four- ...

as Appukkuttan *

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 Velayudhan * Innocent as Chandran Pillai (Cameo) * Kottayam Naseer as Chaakkappan *

Maniyanpilla Raju Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his stage name Maniyanpilla Raju (Malayalam: മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in Malayalam film industry.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 ...

as Kumaran * Rajan P. Dev as SI Ouseppu *

Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

as Kuliru Thankappan * V. K. Sreeraman as Gangadharan * Baiju as Kunjachan * K. T. S. Padannayil as Velappan Nair / Mummy Maman, Gopalan's father-in-law and Meenakshi's maternal grandfather *Manka Mahesh as Ambujam, Gopalan Nair's wife and Meenakshi's mother *Abu Salim as Udumbu Jose *

Saju Kodiyan Saju Kodiyan is an Indian mimicry artist, comedian and actor who works in the Malayalam Film Industry. He started his career as a mimicry artist and has acted in more than 20 movies. Career Saju Kodiyan is famous for his role as Aminathatha i ...

as Ayyappan *A. S. Joby as Mathapp

Soundtrack

Beside directing, Sonu Shishupal also composed the songs featured in the film, lyrics were by

Gireesh Puthenchery Girish Puthenchery was a noted Malayalam lyricist, poet, scriptwriter and screenwriter, esteemed for his pivotal role as a lyricist in Malayalam cinema. He was often hailed as the aristocratic lyricist of Malayalam and was admired for his uniqu ...

. The background score was composed by C. Rajamani. The film reused the song "Rajavin Paarvai" from the 1966 Tamil film '' Anbe Vaa'', originally composed by M. S. Viswanathan. The soundtrack album was released by MC Audios & Videos.

Release and reception

''Vamanapuram Bus Route'' was released on 23 January 2004. It opened major in Savitha Films Ernakulam and other 35 centres

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The film received unfavourable reviews from critics.

Sify Sify Technologies Limited (formerly Satyam Infoway) is an Indian information and communications technology (ICT) company providing telecom services, data center services, cloud & managed services, transformation integration services, and ...

's critic wrote that "our heart goes out to Mohanlal, one of the finest actors in the country who is being wasted in insipid films". Despite the criticism, the film managed to remain in all 36 theatres in its third week. In a 19 February 2004 box office report, ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

'' wrote that "Mohanlal's ''Vamanapuram Bus Route'' is doing its third week in 36 centres in Kerala and doing good business outside Kerala".

References

External links

* 2004 films 2000s Malayalam-language films Indian comedy-drama films 2004 comedy-drama films Films shot in Thiruvananthapuram {{2000s-Malayalam-film-stub