In Harihar Nagar

In Harihar Nagar
Directed by Siddique-Lal
Produced by Khais-Kuriachan
Written by Siddique-Lal
Starring Mukesh
Siddique
Jagadish
Ashokan
Music by S. Balakrishnan
Cinematography Venu
Edited by Gaurishekar K. R.
Production
company
Mohsin Priya Combines
Distributed by Swargachitra
Release dates
  • 1990
Country India
Language Malayalam

In Harihar Nagar is a 1990 Malayalam comedy-thriller film written and directed by the duo Siddique-Lal. It stars Mukesh, Siddique, Jagadish and Ashokan in major roles. The film became one of the biggest hits in Malayalam film history and has a dedicated cult following.[1] It is referred to as part of the golden age of Malayalam comedy and among the most hilarious movies in Indian cinema.[2] The film achieved blockbuster status and completed 150 days.

The film has spawned three sequels, 2 Harihar Nagar (2009), In Ghost House Inn (2010) and John Honai (2015), where the first two sequels were written and directed by Lal from the duo and they ended up as box office hits and the third sequel which is currently under production is directed by T.A. Thoufeeq. In Harihar Nagar was remade in several other Indian languages.

Plot

Mahadevan (Mukesh), Govindan Kutty (Siddique), Appukuttan (Jagadish) and Thomas Kutty (Ashokan) are four young men who live in the housing colony 'Harihar Nagar' in a city in Keralam. The movie starts with an incident which take place in Bombay, where a murder happens for a 'briefcase'. In the next scene the foursome are then shown, with their tricks to impress girls. A girl, "Maya" (Geetha Vijayan), along with her grandparents come as Mahadevan's new neighbours. The foursome try to impress her during which they find her posting a letter. They bribe the postman and manage to get that letter. Through the letter they come to know that Maya is in the town to know more about the murder of her brother - Sedu Madhavan (Suresh Gopi).

Maya visits the house of Andrews (Saikumar) - friend of Sedu Madhavan. She requests Androse's mother - Ammachi (Kaviyoor Ponnamma) to contact her if she gets any information about her brother. The foursome meet Ammachi as Sedu's friends. They manage to get Sedu's photo by telling that they want it for the colony's sport's club. Maya gets this info from Ammachi and meet them. She believes them to be Sedu's friends after seeing his photo at their house. The foursome make a story about an affair of Sedu and another girl.

Hearing the news that foursome are the friends of Sedu Madhavan,they are kidnapped by John Honai, who wants a 'briefcase'.Maya was in search of her brother's girlfriend and she finds details of "Rekha", who was close to her brother from the library. The back story of Sedu is said when she questions rekha about Sedu. Androse's father was a businessman who was killed by John Honai's father and he built a business empire with the money taken from Androse's father. Androse creates trouble in that business to take revenge. Honai's father then sells all his assets and try to run away with that money in the 'briefcase'. Androse was the murderer in the first scene. He gives that briefcase to Sedu Madhavan but is killed soon after. Sedu comes to Harihar Nagar to give this money to Ammachi but when he gets to know that Ammachi is ignorant of Androse's death and is still waiting for him, he gives it to 'Rekha'who is Androse's girlfriend.

Foursome escape from Honai, and are on run. Maya and her grandparents are then caught by Honai but foursome rescue them. Ammachi comes to know about Androse's death from Rekha who gives her the briefcase. Honai comes to her house to get the briefcase. The cooking gas was left on when Honai enters the home, and he is killed when he switches on a lighter.

Maya is packing her things to leave Harihar nagar. She meets the foursome before leaving and hands them a briefcase as a gift. When her car leaves, the briefcase opens and the money, jewellary, everything falls out. She shouts from the car that it is for them. They become happy, and the film ends.

Cast

Soundtrack

The soundtrack features two super hit songs composed by S. Balakrishnan and lyrics penned by Bichu Thirumala. The songs were remixed and used by Alex Paul for 2 Harihar Nagar, the first sequel of this film.

  1. "Ekantha Chandrike" - M. G. Sreekumar, Unni Menon
  2. "Unnam Marannu" - M. G. Sreekumar, Chorus

Trivia

The film is one of the most widely viewed and remembered movies in Malayalam film history. It has a cult status among the youth even 25 years later. Dialogues between the four friends teasing each other is widely popular amongst college students.

Sequels

19 years after the release of the original, In Harihar Nagar had a sequel 2 Harihar Nagar directed by Lal of the director-duo Siddique-Lal. It was released on 1 April 2009. After its success, Lal planned another sequel, named In Ghost House Inn. It was released on 25 March 2010.

Remake versions

Year Film Language Cast Director Ref
1991 MGR Nagaril Tamil Anand Babu, Sukanya, Vivek, Charle, Shankar, Napoleon Alleppy Ashraf [3]
1991 Madhuranagarilo Telugu Srikanth, Nirosha Kodi Ramakrishna
1992 Nagaradalli Nayakaru Kannada Malashri, Chi. Guru Dutt, Sunil, Balaraj, Sudhakar Sai Prakash
1992 Parda Hai Parda Hindi Chunky Pandey, Meena, Laxmikant Berde, Kiran Kumar K. Bapaiah
2007 Dhol Hindi Sharman Joshi, Kunal Khemu, Rajpal Yadav, Tusshar Kapoor, Tanushree Dutta, Arbaaz Khan Priyadarshan [4]

References

  1. ↑ Vijay George (2 January 2009). "Return to Harihar Nagar". The Hindu.
  2. ↑ "In Harihar Nagar-2". Oneindia.in. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
  3. ↑ National Film Development Corporation of India (1991). Cinema in India: Volume 2. Cinema in India. India. p. 85. ISBN 0-333-93410-5.
  4. ↑ Sreedhar Pillai (22 September 2007). "Fun and frolic". The Hindu.
  5. ↑ "Raj Kiran's 'Idhu MGR Illam'". Cinesouth.com. 24 February 2006.

External links