Akashadoothu

Akashadoothu
CD Cover
Directed by	Sibi Malayil
Produced by	Prem Prakash Thomas
Written by	Dennis Joseph
Starring	Madhavi Murali
Music by	Ouseppachan
Cinematography	Anandakuttan
Edited by	Bhoominathan
Production company	Anupama
Release dates	1993 (1993)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Box office	6 crores

Akashadoothu is a 1993 Malayalam-language drama film, directed by Sibi Malayil with Madhavi and Murali in lead roles. One of the most influential melodramas of the nineties, the film tells the tale of a widow suffering from leukemia. It won the National Film Award for Best Film on Family Welfare. Madhavi won Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress and Filmfare Award for Best Actress awards for this film. This film was remade in Telugu and Kannada as Matrudevobhava and Karulina Koogu respectively.

The plot of Akashadoothu was inspired by the movie Who Will Love My Children?.

Plot

The story revolves around Johnny (Murali) and Annie (Madhavi), a married couple who had both grown up together in an orphanage, fallen in love and had got married. The couple have four children; the eldest being a teenage girl named Meenu, twin boys Rony and Tony, and the youngest Monu, a toddler. Rony and Tony are about 8 years old and are very close to each other. Rony is physically handicapped. Johnny is a jeep driver by profession and Annie a violin teacher. Though the family struggles to live and make ends meet, they lead a happy life together, except for the moments when Johnny, a recurrent alcoholic spends most of his daily earnings at the local toddy shop. During an altercation between Johnny and the local milk delivery man Keshavan (N F Varghese), the latter is humiliated in front of his family. Keshavan therefore decides to take revenge on Johnny.

One day, he sees Johnny's son Tony riding a bicycle on his way home. Keshavan increases the speed of the van he is driving and knocks Tony off the road. Some bystanders bring the injured Tony to the hospital. Despite being in a not so critical condition, Tony has lost a lot of blood and requires blood transfusion. While looking for suitable donors, it is discovered that Annie's blood sample has some abnormal characteristics and she cannot donate her blood. After further analysis, it is revealed that Annie is suffering from a late stage of leukaemia and that she only has a couple of months to a year to live. The news shocks both Johnny and Annie. Johnny reforms from his alcoholic demeanor and becomes more responsible. However, as fate takes a turn, one day when Johnny is on his way home with medicine for Annie, he gets into a fight with Keshavan and is killed. Annie is devastated but remains strong willed to take care of the family. She deeply worries about the future of her children. She does not want her children to grow up in an orphanage like she and Johnny did, growing up with the label as orphans. She decides to give her children up for adoption. She lies to her kids that the money she gets out of her classes is not sufficient for them to live and therefore she is going to Germany very soon, so they have to go to new houses and there will be new parents to love and take care of them. By now Meenu has come to know about her mother's condition and asks her about it. Annie is totally broken down. Both of them keeps this a secret between them.

Annie, with the help of the priest of their church – Father Vattappara (Nedumudi Venu) – makes arrangements for the adoption of the kids. Monu is adopted by a leading Doctor. Annie wishes that both her boys Rony and Tony live together forever and hence expects a couple to adopt both of them. But they find it difficult to get people ready to accept the disabled boy. Finally Annie decides to give Tony to a wealthy businessman and his wife (Jose Pellissery and Bindu Paniker). Meenu decides not to go to a new house and be with her Mum, but Annie and Father Vattappara convince her for the same. She is taken by an rich old man and his wife (Thikkurissi and Aranmula Ponnamma) to their home. The only one left is Rony, the handicapped child. Annie and father Vattappara try hard to find someone to take care of him. Mean time Annie's doctor give her a hint that days are counted for her. She wishes to celebrate Christmas at her home with her kids and makes arrangements for the it. She writes a letter to Meenu asking her to always keep in touch with her brothers so that the bond between the siblings remain for ever. On the day before Christmas, Annie dreams that all her children have come to see her. She wakes up and happily runs to the door, only to realize that was a dream. She starts bleeding from her nose and understands that there isn't much time left for her, she prays in front of the Sacred Heart of Jesus begging for a day more to live so that she can see her kids for the last time. She finds bleeding from the Sacred Heart and realizes that death has come for her. Later that night Rony finds her dead.

At her funeral, all her children and their newly adopted parents are there and after she is buried, the children and their families tearfully part ways, except for Rony who is about to be taken by Father Vattappara to the orphanage. The movie ends with Tony's adopted parents coming back, and Tony jumps out of the car and runs to Rony and the two embracing each other, as Tony's adopted father was moved during the farewell and agreed to take in Rony as well.

Cast

Awards

1993 National Film Awards (India)

• Best Film on Family Welfare

Kerala State Film Awards 1993

• Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress : Madhavi
• Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer : K J Yesudas
• Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist : Seena Antony

Filmfare Awards South

• Best Malayalam Actress  : Madhavi

Casting

Geetha was initially approached to play the lead female role. She rejected the role citing date conflicts and eventually Madhavi was finalized for the role.

Serial production

As a sequel to the movie, a serial with the same name started on 24 October 2011 on Surya TV. The famous film actress Chippi played the character of Madhavi's daughter named 'Meenu'. Apart from her, K. P. A. C. Lalitha, Sukumari, Prem Prakash, Seema G. Nair, and others did several roles. The song in the film 'Raapaadee Kezhunnuvo...' was used as the title song of the serial with the film clips as visuals. The story of the serial revolves around the reunion of the 4 siblings (Meenu, Ronnie, Tony & Monu). Also, they showed Jose Prakash in a special appearance on 25 Jan 2012, 26 Jan 2012 and, 17 Feb 2012. The serial ends on 4 October 2013 with a total of 501 episodes. The serial was produced by Chippi.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film features 4 songs, composed by Ouseppachan.

External links

• Akashadoothu at the Internet Movie Database