Chandralekha (1997 film)

Chandralekha
VCD cover
Directed by	Priyadarshan
Produced by	Fazil
Written by	Priyadarshan
Starring	Mohanlal Sreenivasan Sukanya Pooja Batra Nedumudi Venu Innocent & Anil Kapoor (cameo)
Music by	Berny Ignatius Gireesh Puthenchery (lyrics)
Cinematography	Jeeva
Edited by	N. Gopalakrishnan
Distributed by	Swargachitra
Release dates	4 September 1997 (1997-09-04)
Running time	172 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Chandralekha is a 1997 Malayalam film directed by Priyadarshan and produced by Fazil. This brought back after a couple of years the old successful comedy combo of Mohanlal and Sreenivasan, which was popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The name "Chandralekha" is a combination of the names of the two heroines in the story, 'Chandra' and 'Lekha'. This film is the fourth record grosser film from Priyadarshan-Mohanlal team, after Thalavattam (1986), Chithram (1988), and Kilukkam (1991). The plot also has some minor elements loosely based on the film While You Were Sleeping.

Plot

Appukuttan Nair or 'Appu' (Mohanlal) is a struggling unemployed youth who arrives in Mumbai to meet his sister and brother-in-law (Augustine). His father has been falsely implicated in a bank fraud and wants to sell his ancestral property to pay towards the litigation. For that he needs his sister's approval, but is abused and turned away by his brother-in-law. Disappointed, Appu seeks out his old pal Nooruddin or 'Noor' (Sreenivasan), who is working in a fruit juice vending shop in Mumbai. Noor himself is a hapless uneducated youth working for his uncle Beeran (Mamukkoya), who is a treacherous money lender, with a hope to marry his daughter Maimoona. They plan to open a paint shop but need 1.25 lakh Rupees to rent a shop as prerequisite to get a bank loan. With no other way in sight, they swindle Beeran out of 1.25 lakh Rupees. Appukuttan then tries to get the loan sanctioned but he is rebuffed by a new Bank manager Varghese (Maniyanpilla Raju) who had taken charge by then.

In a turn of events Appukkuttan happens to rescue a woman called Chandrika Varma or 'Chandra' (Sukanya) after a car accident, hospitalizing her. Chandra is the daughter of a wealthy businessman Udhaya Varma (Nedumudi Venu). Appukkuttan is mistaken by the hospital staff to be her husband, Alfred Fernandes or 'Alfie'. Soon her relatives including her father arrive and they too mistake him for Chandra's husband, because Chandra had eloped with Alfie, and no one had ever seen or talked to Alfie. Also it happened to be that Chandra was a major client of Appukkuttan's Bank Manager Varghese, who too mistook Appukkuttan for Chandra's husband, and was now eager to oblige him with the loan. Appukkuttan decides to masquerade as Alfie till he gets loan approval from the Bank Manager. Chandra lay bedridden paralysed unable to react but was able to witness all the commotions around her.

Some of the relatives of Chandra were never convinced about Appukuttan from the outset. Beeran is also hot on Appukuttan's trail to retrieve his money. To make matters worse for Appukkuttan enters the second heroine Lekha (Pooja Batra), a close friend of Chandra and who is a medical graduate. She had talked to Alfie on the phone previously and is immediately suspicious about Appukkuttan. The relatives join with Lekha to find out the truth. Lekha and others play cat and mouse with Appukkuttan trying to uncover his veracity, with Appukkuttan staying ahead of the game for a while. Finally Lekha fortuitously comes to know the real story of Appukkuttan but she is moved by his plight and enamored by his openhearted nature. In the meantime Chandra revives from her paralysis but she too forgives Appukkuttan for everything; also she had developed a liking for him. But one of the jealous relatives of Chandra (Cochin Haneefa) manages to expose Appukkuttan before everyone. Then Chandra admits all the truth to everyone. Her was not in fact a car accident but was a suicide attempt after her fiance, the real Alfie, had betrayed her, and their marriage had never commenced. But she was now in love with Appukkuttan and hoped to marry him. Chandra recovers fully under the loving care of Appu and Lekha. But later Chandra discovers that Lekha was already in love with Appukkuttan, and had in fact given way for her as a favor to Chandra's father, to whom Lekha was like a second daughter. Chandra gracefully withdraws from her planned marriage with Appukkuttan, and Appukkuttan and Lekha are united together with everyone's hearty blessings.

Cast

• Mohanlal as Appukuttan Nair
• Pooja Batra as Lekha
• Sukanya as Chandrika Varma/Chandra
• Nedumudi Venu as Udhaya Varma (Chandra's father)
• Innocent as Iruvikuttanpilla (Lekha's father)
• Sreenivasan as Nooruddin (Appukuttan's friend)
• Sukumari as Appachi
• Cochin Haneefa
• T. P. Madhavan
• Reena
• Augustine
• Sadiq
• Mamukkoya as Nooruddin's uncle
• Kuthiravattam Pappu
• Maniyanpilla Raju as Bank Manager
• Anil Kapoor (cameo)
• Chandni Shaju as Maimuna

Trivia

• Bollywood actor Anil Kapoor plays a cameo role in the movie. He appears as a lunatic, whom Appukuttan Nair misunderstands as the original Alfie.
• Remade into Telugu as Chandralekha (1998) starring Nagarjuna.
• Remade unofficially into Hindi as Har Dil Jo Pyar Karega starring Salman Khan.
• The story has been adapted into Tamil as Summa Nachunu Irukku directed by A. Venkatesh.
• Chandralekha became an industry hit and had a record breaking collection. Eventually it became the first 10cr grossing Malayalam Cinema and also became the 2nd highest grossing film of the year.^[1]
• Chandralekha ran 162 days in Trivandrum Kripa Theatre with ₹6.8 million (US$100,000) gross.
• The story is an adaptation from the English movie While You Were Sleeping, released in 1995.
• Mohanlal won Screen South Award for Best Actor.^[2]

Soundtrack

The blockbuster songs of this film were written by lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery. The songs are composed by the music director duo Berny Ignatius.

References

External links

• Chandralekha at the Internet Movie Database
• 'Chandralekha' at the Malayala Sangeetham Database
• 'Chandralekha' at the Mohanlal's Official Website