One Man Show (film)

One Man Show
Directed by	Shafi
Written by	Rafi Mecartin
Produced by	Girish Vaikom
Starring	Jayaram Mukesh Lal Samyuktha Varma
Narrated by	Lal
Cinematography	Anandakuttan
Edited by	K. P. Hariharaputhran
Music by	Suresh Peters (songs) Rajamani (score)
Production company	Aswathey Films
Distributed by	Lal Release Rafa International
Release date	December 25, 2001 (2001-12-25)
Running time	147 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

One Man Show is a 2001 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Shafi (in his directorial debut) and written by the Rafi Mecartin duo. It stars Jayaram, Mukesh, Samyuktha Varma, Lal, Manya, Kalabhavan Mani and Narendra Prasad. The story unfurls itself in the course of a TV game show.^[1] This film was a huge commercial success at the box office. The film was remade in Tamil as Kalakkura Chandru (2007).

Plot

Jayakrishnan, the protagonist, comes to take part in a show, One Man Show hosted by popular movie star Mukesh. During the course of the show, the host pries into Jayakrishnan's past and the whole story is unwound in a flashback.

Jayakrishnan, his uncle K. R. Menon and his cousin (Menon's daughter) Radhika, who is also Jayakrishnan's sweetheart, live together. They are lawyers by profession and their house is nicknamed "Kodathi Veedu" (Court house). Among the lawyers of Kodathi Veedu, Jayakrishnan and his Junior Ponnappan are the only utter. No client ever comes for Jayakrishnan and hence is unable to earn anything. However, he decideds that he'd marry Radhika only after he has fought and won a legal battle. So Jayakrishnan and Ponnappan decide to reopen the case of Hari Narayanan, who has been in a mental asylum for the past few years. Jayakrishnan, with timely help from Doctor Raziya, his friend, proves in court that Hari Narayanan is not insane and that he was dubbed a mad man by his own brother Raveendran, who wanted to wrest his assets. Uncle Menon fights the suit on the defendant's side, but Jayakrishnan wins the lawsuit. Hari Narayanan is released from the mental asylum and Jayakrishnan gets married to Radhika.

But the plot takes a sharp turn when Jayakrishnan discovers that Hari Narayanan is in fact insane. Jayakrishnan is helpless as he is ashamed to expose Hari Narayanan's insanity. Meanwhile, the insane Hari Narayanan thinks that it is him who has married Radhika. A series of strange incidents take place after which everyone believe that it is Jayakrishnan who is insane. Meanwhile, Hari Narayanan begins to seek revenge on his brother. He bombs his brother's factory, which causes a huge financial loss. Since tt was Radhika who legally offered bail for Hari Narayanan, she is held responsible to cover the loss. They are unable to pay this amount and Radhika goes to prison. It is for her release that Jayakrishnan has come to the TV game show. Everything ends well when he wins the game show and frees his sweetheart.

Cast

• Jayaram as Adv. Jayakrishnan
• Mukesh as Himself, host of One Man Show game show
• Lal as Harinarayanan
• Samyuktha Varma as Adv. Radhika Menon
• Kalabhavan Mani as Adv. Ponnappan
• Manya as Dr. Raziya Muhammed
• Narendra Prasad as Adv. K. R. Menon
• Janardhanan as Raveendran
• Salim Kumar as Bhaskaran
• N. F. Varghese as Dr. Nambiar
• Indrans as Achuthan
• Cochin Haneefa as Prem
• Machan Varghese as Pankajakshan
• T. P. Madhavan as Doctor
• Kalabhavan Navas as Shahjahan
• V. K. Sreeraman as Raziya's Father
• Ramu as Jailor
• Manka Mahesh (voice by Anandavally)
• Radhika as Aswathi
• Renjith K R as a mental patient

Soundtrack

The songs in this movie has been written by Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri as has been given music by Suresh Peters. The music has been distributed by Sathyam Audios.

• "Pavizhamalar Penkodi": M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra
• "Rosappoo Rosappoo": M. G. Sreekumar, K. S. Chithra
• "Kasithumba": P. Unnikrishnan, Swarnalatha
• "Adyathe": P. Jayachandran
• "Rakkadambil": M. G. Sreekumar, Mano
• "Oru Mulam": Srinivas, Sujatha Mohan
• "Neelaravil": M. G. Sreekumar
• "Niramazhayil": Mano, Sujatha Mohan, Suresh Peters, Chorus
• "Kasithumba Poove": P. Unnikrishnan

Reception

A critic from Screen wrote that "One Man Show, produced by Girish Vaikkom under the banner of Aswathey Films and directed by debutante Shafi, tries a novel approach as far as narration is concerned".^[2] A critic from Sify wrote that "The Tenkasipattanam team does not get ther story correct,as in the second half the film drags on. Still thanks to Jayaram and Mukesh,the film just manages to keep afloat".^[3] A critic from Kalakeralam.com wrote that "Since their last rib-tickler Thenkasippattanam was a laugh riot, one would expect Rafi-Mecartin to ting their next film with a profuse dose of humor. But, the maiden directorial venture of Shafi, One Man Show lacks the spark, verve and fun pace of Thenkasippattanam".^[4]

References

1. "One Man Show". Cine South. Archived from the original on 23 October 2002.
2. Unni R. Nair (11 January 2002). "One Man Show: Novel approach". Screen India. Archived from the original on 22 January 2010.
3. Moviebiz. "Review: One Man Show". Sify. Archived from the original on 20 March 2005.
4. "Film Review - ONE MAN SHOW". Kalakeralam.com. Archived from the original on 25 June 2002.

External links

• One Man Show at IMDb