Raakilipattu

Raakilipaatu
Film DVD poster
Directed by	Priyadarshan
Produced by	Mukesh R Mehta
Written by	Priyadarshan Chandrakant Kulkarni Maharajan
Starring	Jyothika Tabu Lakshmi Sharbani Mukherjee Ishita Arun Jomol Major Ravi
Music by	Songs: Vidyasagar Background score: S. P. Venkatesh
Cinematography	Jeeva
Edited by	N. Gopalakrishnan
Distributed by	Surya Cine Arts
Release date	16 February 2007
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Raakilipaatu (Malayalam: രാക്കിളിപ്പാട്ടു്) is a 2007 Malayalam film directed by Priyadarshan based on the 1999 Marathi film Bindhaast. It stars Jyothika, Sharbani Mukherjee, Tabu and Lakshmi. The songs were composed by Vidyasagar while the background score was composed by S. P. Venkatesh. Originally planned to be made as a bilingual, in Tamil and in Malayalam, the film released first in 2000 in Tamil only as Snegithiye, while the Malayalam version as well as the dubbed Hindi version, Friendship, released only seven years later.^[1][2][3]Jyothika was nominated for best actress category at Filmfare Awards South.

Plot

Josephine (Jyothika), her best friend Radhika (Sharbani Mukherjee) and their friends are pranksters in a ladies' college. Like other college girls, they sing songs, break rules and wreak havoc. They also have a grudge against Gita, another girl from the college.

Lakshmi, who plays Radhika's aunt, wants her niece to get married. To escape, Josephine and Radhika fake a boyfriend whose name is Ramesh. However, this fantasy takes on a whole new meaning when a person named Ramesh calls and sends Radhika letters claiming to be her boyfriend. To end this nuisance, Josephine and Radhika invite Ramesh to the hostel during the college dance program. Josephine instructs Radhika to bring a gun for their safety.

Mysteriously, without them shooting him, Ramesh (Major Ravi) dies. At the same, Radhika loses her chain. Suspicion eventually falls on the two friends. Gayathri (Tabu) is a man-hating police officer, and is put on the case. To make matters worse, Gita suddenly disappears. Josephine and Radhika find themselves as fugitives, running away from the law in a bid to prove their innocence. Meanwhile, the real killer is still on the loose.

In the end, it is revealed that the real killer was Gayathri (Tabu), avenging the death of her sister (Jomol). The film ends with Gayathri in a mental hospital and Josephine and Radhika come to see her.

Cast

• Jyothika as Josephine
• Sharbani Mukherjee as Radhika Menon
• Tabu as Gayathri Varma
• Ishita Arun as Geetha Damodaran
• Lakshmi as Malathi Menon (Radhika's Aunty)
• K. P. A. C. Lalitha as Eliama Pothan (Josephine's mother)
• Sukumari as history professor + hostel warden
• Shweta Menon as Jayasree (police officer)
• Manju Pillai as police constable
• Jomol as Savithri (Gayathri's sister)
• Major Ravi as Ramesh
• Suchithra as advocate Soumini
• Manasi Scott as Manasi (Josephine's friend)
• Mita Vasisht as investigating officer/ Geetha's guadian
• Shaari as Arundhathi in a cameo
• Philomina in a cameo

Production

The original story idea for the film was taken from Marathi writer Chandrakant Kulkarni, who had made the successful Marathi film, Bindhaast, based on the story the previous year. Priyadarshan heard about the film and asked producer Mukesh Mehta to see it and decide whether he would like to produce the movie and thus Mehta went to Bombay, saw the film and liked it. However the producer reiterated that they have taken only the main thread from the Marathi story with the rest of the film, its sub-plots and the treatment are completely different from the original. Initially, it was planned as a Malayalam film with a cast familiar to the Kerala audience. But as Priyadarshan's excitement over the project grew, the canvas got wider and the producer decided to look for a bigger audience. Thus Jyothika, Sharbani Mukherjee and Ishita Arun, daughter of Ila Arun, stepped in to give it a more national flavour. Seasoned actresses like Lakshmi, Lalitha, Sukumari, Mita Vasisht, Tabu and Dipti Bhatnagar also joined the all-female team. Cinematographer Jeeva and art director Sabu Cyril also joined the team and they shot 90 per cent of the film in a college in Mysore and the rest in Madras, also featuring live coverage of the Dussera festival of Mysore.^[4] The film was subsequently made simultaneously in Malayalam and Tamil with a title of Snegithiye, while a Hindi version was also planned in 2000.^[5]

Jyothika prioritised her work in the project and thus delayed her schedules for Uyirile Kalanthathu in order to ensure the film was released as early as possible.^[6] The songs of the film were released at Devi Theatre with Kamal Haasan appearing as the chief guest.^[7]

Soundtrack

Notes

• Raakilipattu was Priyadarshan's 50th movie.
• It was one of the few movies in the history of the Malayalam film industry with an almost all-female cast.

References

External links

• Metromatinee article
• Indiaglitz article