Agnidevan

Agnidevan
Agnidevan
	Venu Nagavalli
Written by	P. Balachandran; Venu Nagavalli
Produced by	Shobha Anand
Starring	Mohanlal; Revathi; Devan; Bharat Gopy; Jagadish;
Cinematography	K. P. Nambiathiri
Edited by	N. Gopalakrishnan
Music by	M. G. Radhakrishnan
Production; company	Mahasudharshana Creations
Distributed by	Starplus Release
Release date	23 October 1995;
Running time	159 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Agnidevan (transl. Lord of fire) is a 1995 Indian

Venu Nagavalli and co-written by P. Balachandran and Nagavalli. It stars Mohanlal and Revathi.^[1] The plot deals with the struggle for leadership of a family-owned newspaper firm causing the family to split apart. Agnidevan was released on October 23 during the Diwali holiday period. The film features music composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan

.

Plot

The story is about the conflict between two brothers who share the legacy of "Malayalam Shabdam", a newspaper company owned by their family, the Ezhuthupura

Tharavadu

. Their roles as the main writers and publishers of a daily newspaper come to the forefront of their rivalry with each other. While one brother Rama Varma a.k.a. 'Appan' has a clinical business-oriented attitude to growing the newspaper industry that he heads, the younger brother Ravi Varma a.k.a. 'Aniyankuttan' feels very emotional and passionate about the craft of writing and reporting. He gives everything to enrich his relationships and cannot understand how to approach it with business goals because writing, in itself, marks tradition, legacy and so much more in their family of distinguished writers, such as their poetess grandmother, Vishwalakshmi Thampuratti, their editor father, K. K. Menon, and their writer cousin, Sudarshana. To add more fuel to the family feud, Appan is manipulated by their company's sinister manager Anantharaman who has ulterior motives to fulfill by capturing the newspaper firm.

The innocent love between Aniyankuttan and Sudhu and Appan's interference in their relation to gain the empire and lady upon the corrupt advices of Anantharaman is accurately depicted in the film. We also get to see the escalating differences between Aniyankuttan's flamboyant and modern mother, who whiles away her time playing rummy and partying with her friends in the ladies' club and supporting her elder son's dictates, and his intellectual and down to earth father- who considers that his life is incomplete without writing. The heart-touching relationship between Aniyankuttan and his grandmother has always stayed in the hearts and minds of the Malayali audience till date. How the younger brother wins his grandmother's and their newspaper's rich legacy by becoming a wealthy liquor baron to take back the company from the hands of Anantharaman is the rest of the film.

The film ends with the grandmother passing away due to her unbearable grief of seeing her family breaking away into pieces due to differences and fights. Anantharaman is beaten up and banished away by Aniyan and his friends when he tries to usurp the grandmother's house. Her death and her burning pyre make Appan and his mother realize their mistakes and unites all the estranged family members once again. Aniyankuttan, after being united with Sudarshana, takes a wow before his beloved grandmother's burning pyre that he will never let the family become disunited.

Cast

Mohanlal as Ravi "Aniyankuttan" Varma
Rohini Hattangadi as Vishwalakshmi Thampuratti ('Muttashi')- the elderly matriarch of the Ezhuthupura family; Aniyankuttan's maternal grandmother
Ratheesh as Anantharaman
Revathi as Sudarshana (Sudhu), Aniyankuttan's cousin
Devan as Rama "Appan" Varma, Aniyankuttan's elder brother
Bharat Gopy as K. K. Menon, Appan's and Aniyan's father
Jagadish as Murukan
Sukumari as Kochammini, Sudhu's mother
Karamana Janardhanan Nair
as Vasudeva Warrier
Kavitha as Parvathi Varma, Muttasshi's daughter and Aniyankuttan's mother
Maniyanpilla Raju as Poojari Potti Kunju
Mala Aravindan as Vijayan, the mahout
Poojappura Ravi as Payapaddan
Mohan Jose as Jacob
Beena Antony as Daughter of Vasudeva Warrier
P. Balachandran as 'Edakka' Marar
Captain Raju as Pareed
T. P. Madhavan as Sathyan, Sudhu's uncle
Valsala Menon as Ashram Head
Kollam Ajith
as Victor Raj, a goon
James Stalin as Minister

Production

The film was shot in

Guruvayoor.^[2]

Soundtrack

The film includes songs written by lyricist

Gireesh Puthenchery and composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan.^[3] The songs became chartbusters especially "Nilavinte Neela Bhasmam" sung by M. G. Sreekumar. The soundtrack album was released by Millennium Audios on 15 October 1995.^[4] Puthenchery won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Lyricist for this film.^[5]

No.	Title	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Akshara Nakshathra"	M. G. Sreekumar	4:38
2.	"Nilaavinte"	M. G. Sreekumar	4:26
3.	"Saama Gaana"	M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra	4:36
4.	"Suralala Nathaka"	M. G. Sreekumar, Mano	4:04

References

^ "Happy Birthday Revathi: 'Kilukkam' To 'Virus', Five Popular Malayalam Films Of The Star You Must Watch Right Away". The Times of India. 8 July 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
^ Sidhardhan, Sanjith (1 May 2017). "Once I complete a sculpture, I detach myself from it and don't take credit either: Artist PV Ramachandran". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
^ "Raaga". Archived from the original on 30 December 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
^ "Agnidevan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - EP by M. G. Radhakrishnan". iTunes. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2019.
^ "An acknowledged prince among lyricists". The New Indian Express. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

External links

Agnidevan at
IMDb

Agnidevan at the Malayalam Movie Database

[1] "Happy Birthday Revathi: 'Kilukkam' To 'Virus', Five Popular Malayalam Films Of The Star You Must Watch Right Away". The Times of India. 8 July 2020. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

[2] Sidhardhan, Sanjith (1 May 2017). "Once I complete a sculpture, I detach myself from it and don't take credit either: Artist PV Ramachandran". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 19 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

[3] "Raaga". Archived from the original on 30 December 2010. Retrieved 5 January 2011.

[4] "Agnidevan (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - EP by M. G. Radhakrishnan". iTunes. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 16 September 2019.

[5] "An acknowledged prince among lyricists". The New Indian Express. 11 February 2010. Archived from the original on 3 May 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.

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