Vettam
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Vettam'' () 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
screwball comedy film Screwball comedy is a film subgenre of the romantic comedy genre that became popular during the Great Depression, beginning in the early 1930s and thriving until the early 1950s, that satirizes the traditional love story. It has secondary charact ...
directed by
Priyadarshan Priyadarshan Soman Nair (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has worked primarily in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Hindi cinema, Hindi cinema since 1982, directing over 90 films in multiple Indian languages, ...
and written by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas and Priyadarshan. It was produced by
Menaka Menaka ( ) is a prominent figure in Hindu mythology, celebrated as one of the most beautiful apsaras (celestial nymphs) in the court of Indra, the king of the gods. She is frequently sent by the gods to disturb the penance of sages whose growin ...
,
Keerthy Suresh Keerthy Suresh (born 17 October 1992) is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu and Malayalam Cinema, Malayalam films. Her film accolades include one National Film Award, five South Indian In ...
, and Revathy Sureshkumar through
Revathy Kalamandhir Revathy Kalamandhir is an Indian film production company based in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. It was founded in 1993 by producer G. Suresh Kumar. The company is run by Suresh Kumar and his wife actress Menaka. They have produced more than 15 ...
.
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 ...
and Bhavna Pani lead 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 ...
, also including
Kalabhavan Mani Kunnisseri Veettil Raman Mani (1 January 1971 – 6 March 2016), better known by his stage name Kalabhavan Mani, was an Indian actor and singer. Mani started his career as a Impersonator, mimicry artist with the Kalabhavan comedy troupe. He had ...
, Innocent, Janardhanan,
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 ...
,
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 ...
, and Mamukkoya in supporting roles. The songs were composed by Berny-Ignatius and score by S. P. Venkatesh. ''Vettam'' was released in theatres on 20 August 2004. It underperformed at the box office. However, the film later gained 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 ...
. Priyadarshan partly adapted the film for his 2009
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
film ''
De Dana Dan ''De Dana Dan'' (''Hit Left and Right'') is a 2009 Indian Hindi-language comedy film directed by Priyadarshan. It is a partial adaptation of the Hollywood film '' Screwed''; some scenes were taken from the 2004 film '' Vettam'', directed by Priy ...
''. The film was inspired by the 1995 film ''
French Kiss A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are sens ...
''.


Plot

Gopalakrishnan, an expert safecracker and thief known as Gopi, steals a precious chain from a museum, drawing the attention of the police. On the run, he crosses paths with Veena, who aims to stop her lover, Felix, from marrying a tycoon's daughter. To avoid capture, Gopi hides the stolen chain in Veena's bag, but it mysteriously disappears, leading Gopi to believe Veena still has it. He decides to follow her on a train journey. Things take a twist when Gopi is forced to jump off the train after Veena misses it while fetching water. Coincidentally, he lands in his hometown, where he is brutally beaten by his wicked elder brother. Gopi discovers that his younger sister's marriage is arranged to an older, wealthy, but uneducated man, orchestrated by his greedy elder brothers. He vows to find a better groom for his sister, but the stolen chain is still missing, and Veena appears to have it. Veena possesses the chain and offers it to Gopi in exchange for his help. Gopi embarks on a quest to secure the funds for his sister's wedding and regain the family properties. Meanwhile, his friend Mani escapes town with his lover, Maala, and they all meet at a hotel in Mysore where Veena's lover Felix and his family are staying for an engagement ceremony. Mathew 'Mathachan,' Felix's father, is in financial trouble and needs a significant amount of money. Fernandez, the bride's father, agrees to provide the money without knowing Mathachan's legal issues. Simultaneously, Mathachan's second wife, Swarnamma, plans to elope with a con man named Prince. Hamza Koya, a womaniser, is being pursued by a hitman, Paasha. A retired DIG of Police, Tom Uncle, is also staying at the hotel. Gopi instructs Mani to meet a dealer's aide to sell the stolen chain, using a rose as an identifier. However, the plan goes awry when Kurup, the father of Mani's lover, arrives with his henchmen. Chaos ensues as Kurup's daughter's name is Maala, and Gopi mistakenly refers to the chain as 'Maala.' Paasha receives a photograph of the man he is supposed to kill, while Felix spots Veena and informs Mathachan. Mathachan and Paasha accidentally swap photographs, leading to confusion. A woman named Anushee arrives, wearing a dress matching Veena's, causing Mathachan to mistake her for Veena. Koya enters Swarnamma's room, misunderstanding her intentions, which leads to further chaos. Another woman, Anusree, enters Tom Uncle's room, assuming him to be Koya. Tom Uncle finds her in his wardrobe, adding to the confusion.After a wedding party, Paasha falls into his own traps while trying to eliminate Fernandez. SI Lambodaran enters Mathachan's room, searching for him. Mani escapes Lambodaran and Kurup, running into Paasha's room. Felix mistakenly enters the con lady's room. Gopi intends to give the chain to a dealer named Freddy but finds out that Freddy has been caught by the police. The senior officer reveals that Veena had pleaded to save Gopi's life and had returned the stolen chain to avoid legal trouble.Gopi had sacrificed for Veena without revealing it. Veena realises Gopi's sincerity and calls off her wedding with Felix. She accepts Gopi's proposal, and the story ends with the couple starting a new chapter of their life together.


Cast


Production

Jyothika Jyothika Saravanan (; born 18 October 1978) is an Indian actress and producer who primarily works in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She has received several accolades including a National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards South, four Tamil N ...
was initially cast as Veena but due to scheduling conflicts she was replaced by Bhavna Pani. A major part of the film was set and filmed at
Howard Johnson's Howard Johnson by Wyndham, still commonly referred to as Howard Johnson's, is an American hotel brand with over 200 hotels in 15 countries. It was also formerly a Chain store, restaurant chain, which at one time was the largest in the U.S., wit ...
The Monarch Hotel in
Ooty Ooty (; officially Udagamandalam (), Anglicisation, anglicized: Ootacamund , abbreviated as Udagai, ) is a town and municipality in the Nilgiris district of the Indian States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu. It is located north ...
.


Soundtrack

The songs were composed by the duo Berny-Ignatius and the film score was composed by S.P. Venkatesh. Lyrics were written by Rajeev Alunkal, B. R. Prasad and Nadirsha. "Oru Kathilola Njan Kandilla", "Mazhathullikal Pozhinjeedumi", "I Love you December" were successful upon release.


Release

''Vettam'' was released on 20 August 2004 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 ...
. A month earlier, the Additional District Court in Ernakulam had issued a stay on the film's release following a petition from the owner of Shenoys Cinemax, who claimed the producers owed him ₹60 lakh. The producers also faced other financial difficulties. Dhanya theatre in Thiruvananthapuram had advanced ₹50 lakh to Suresh Kumar (who produced the film under his wife's and daughters' names) on condition that the film would be screened at their theatres in Kollam and Changanassery, which the distributor Swargachitra Appachan opposed. Remuneration for actor Dileep and the film's technicians remained unsettled, with Kumar reportedly facing liabilities of over ₹2 crore.


Box office

''Vettam'' was released alongside '' Kazhcha'', '' Natturajavu'', and '' Sathyam''. The film underperformed at the box office. Made on a budget of ₹2.25 crore, the film collected a distributor's share of ₹92 lakh in 35 days, according to ''
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 ...
''. On 24 September 2004, the film was discontinued from theatres for a day following a court order and resumed from the following day.


Critical reception

Critic from ''
Deccan Herald ''Deccan Herald'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper published from the Indian state of Karnataka. It was founded by businessman K. N. Guruswamy and launched on 17 June 1948. It is published by The Printers Mysore, a privately hel ...
'' found the storyline similar to ''
French Kiss A French kiss, also known as cataglottism or a tongue kiss, is an amorous kiss in which the participants' tongues extend to touch each other's lips or tongue. A kiss with the tongue stimulates the partner's lips, tongue and mouth, which are sens ...
'' (1995) and described it as "an entertainer with a wafer-thin story" and added that "the first half of the film is fast-paced and entertaining, but loses its charm in the later stages". But praised the comedic performance of Dileep.''Sify'' review
/ref>


References


External links

* {{Priyadarshan 2004 films 2000s Malayalam-language films 2004 romantic comedy films Films with screenplays by Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas Indian remakes of American films Indian romantic comedy films Indian screwball comedy films Films shot in Ooty Films shot in Pollachi Films shot in Palakkad Films scored by Berny–Ignatius Films directed by Priyadarshan Indian remakes of French films Films about travel Fictional portrayals of the Kerala Police Indian crime films Films about theft Films about organ transplantation