Athbhutha Dweepu

Albhutha Dweepu
Directed by	Vinayan
Written by	Vinayan Ashok and Shasi (dialogue)
Produced by	T. K. Appukuttan P. A. Philipos
Starring	Guinness Pakru Prithviraj Sukumaran
Cinematography	Shajikumar
Edited by	G. Murali
Music by	M. Jayachandran
Release date	1 April 2005
Running time	150 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Albhutha Dweepu (transl. Wonder island) is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language fantasy film directed by Vinayan. The plot is set on an otherworld island where all men are dwarfs and women are of normal height, and humans are considered monsters. The film stars Guinness Pakru and Prithviraj Sukumaran alongside Mallika Kapoor, Jagathy Sreekumar, Jagadish, Indrans, Kalpana, Ponnamma Babu and Bindu Panicker in supporting roles.

Pakru who played prince Gajendra made an entry into the Guinness Book of Records for being the shortest actor (76 cm height) to play a full-length character in a film.^[1][2] It was also given an entry into the Guinness Book of Records for casting the most dwarves in a single film.

Plot[]

An island is inhabited by dwarves. All the men are dwarves, although the women are of a normal height. The ruler of the island, King invites various princes to his capital city of Vamanapuri in order to compete for the hands of his five daughters. Four of his daughters are successfully engaged, but the youngest princess, Princess Radha, has no wish to get married. Nonetheless, decides to have her engaged to Prince Gajendra, his nephew and heir, who is in love with Radha. In order to celebrate the engagements, the king orders a week of celebration.

Meanwhile, two men who work for the Indian Navy, wash up on the shore. They are killed by the island's inhabitants who see them as demons. Hari, Madhavan, Joseph and Chandrappan also work for the Indian Navy, and are also trapped on the island. They witness the death of their comrades and flee from the dwarves. They decide to take refuge in an old temple in the forest.

The princess go along with Mallika, their handmaiden to the temple of their god, Gandharva, in order to pray. Mallika is secretly the king's mistress although they are both terrified that the king's two wives would find out about the affair. On the way, the princesses and Mallika come across Devamma, a wisewoman. Devamma tells them about Gandharva. A thousand years ago, Gandharva fell in love with the king's daughter. The daughter's suitor came to know of this and planned to use black magic to kill Gandharva. However the daughter stole the magic and gave it to Gandharva. In his anger, Gandharva cursed all the men on the island to become dwarfs. In addition, he decreed that any man to step inside his temple would have his head explode. Out of gratitude to the king's daughter, Gandharva agreed to protect the island for a thousand years. Devamma cautions them that the thousand years has elapsed, making the island vulnerable once more.

When Mallika offers food as a sacrifice to Gandharva, Hari and his friends eat it without Mallika's knowledge, making her believe that Gandharva ate the offering. While exploring the temple, Radha comes across Hari in the temple and believes due to his height that he is the real Gandharvan. Both of them fall in love with each other at the first sight. Hari begs Radha not to reveal their hiding place. Radha agrees and comes by herself later with food. As Radha exits the temple she is caught by Gajendran. Gajendran asks why she is at the temple at such a late hour. To avoid being caught, Radha tells Gajendra that Gandharva appeared in one of her dreams and summoned her to the temple. She then feigns illness. The royal priest tells the king to host a puja in order to exorcise Gandharva.

Gajendra, angry at what he perceives as Gandharva possessing Radha, decides to enter the Gandharvan Temple to find out the truth only to be frightened by the disguised Hari. Radha tells Mallika about the men and she agrees to help them. They come up with a scheme for the men to hide in plain sight. The men disguise themselves as saints who pretend to heal Radha. Out of gratitude, the king makes them the official royal priests. However the king comes to know that Hari and his friends are imposters. Hari and his friends kidnap the king and hide him in a barrel while they figure out what to do.

In the king's absence, Gajendra takes the throne. He becomes suspicious of Hari and Radha and orders the saints to crown him king so that he can marry Radha. During Gajendra's coronation ceremony, the king escapes and denounces the priests and Radha.

When the dwarfs are about to execute the death sentence they are attacked by Gigantic Cannibals who attack and kill most of the men. Hari and his friends manage to escape and fight against the Cannibals and succeed in defeating them, thus saving the kingdom. Raja forgives them and allows them to sail to their homeland with Radha.

Cast[]

• Ajay Kumar as Prince Gajendran
• Prithviraj Sukumaran as Hari, a Navy Officer
• Mallika Kapoor as Rajakumari Radha, Princess of Athbhutha Dweepu
• Jagathy Sreekumar as Madhavan and the Maharaja of Athbhutha Dweepu
• Jagadish as Joseph
• Indrans as Chandrappan
• Kalpana as Mallika; Chief Maid of the court
• Ponnamma Babu as Maharani Arundhati; First wife of the king
• Bindu Panicker as Maharani Anasuya; Second wife of the King
• Sajan Sagara as Ittunnan
• Valsala Menon as Devamma, an extraordinary old lady
• Sonika as Rajkumari Indumathi
• Renjusha Menon as Rajkumari Lakshmi
• Vettoor Purushan as Rajaguru of Athbutha Dweepu
• Manuraj as Gautham, a Navy Officer (cameo)
• Baburaj as Mohammed, a Navy Officer (cameo)
• Balakrishnan as Vakraraja Odiyan
• Kamaraddin as a cannibalistic giant
• Thumboor Shibu as cannibalistic giant

Tamil version

• Karunas as Karuppiah
• Vaiyapuri as Vaiyapuri
• Manivannan as Maharaja
• Malavika as Malavika (special appearance)

Soundtrack[]

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The Soundtrack was Composed by M. Jayachandran and Lyrics were written by Kaithapram Damodaran Namboodiri.

Release[]

The film was a 2005 commercial box-office success.^[3] The film was dubbed in Tamil as Arputha Theevu with additional scenes reshot with Manivannan, Karunas and Vaiyapuri. Tamil version was released in 2007.^{[citation needed]}

Vinayan said that American director Ron Howard has showed interest in remaking the film in English, and they have contacted him for a discussion.^[4] The further developments is unknown.

References[]

External links[]

• Athbhutha Dweepu at IMDb