Sandhesam

Sandesham
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Sathyan Anthikad
Written by	Sreenivasan
Produced by	S. S. T. Subrahmaniam
Starring	Thilakan Sreenivasan Jayaram Siddique Kaviyoor Ponnamma Maathu Oduvil Unnikrishnan K. P. A. C. Lalitha Sankaradi
Cinematography	Vipin Mohan
Edited by	K. Rajagopal
Music by	Johnson
Production company	Evershine Productions
Distributed by	Evershine Release
Release date	October 30, 1991 (1991-10-30) (India)
Running time	137 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹8 crore
Box office	₹35 crore

Sandhesam (transl. Message) is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language political satire black comedy film directed by Sathyan Anthikad and written by Sreenivasan, starring Thilakan, Sreenivasan, Jayaram, Siddique, Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Maathu. The film deals with political activism existing in Kerala and takes major digs on the political parties in the state.

A commercial success upon release, Sandhesam is often regarded as a classic in Malayalam cinema.^[1] The film was included in IBN Live's list of "100 Greatest Indian Films of All Time".^[2][3][4] The film was remade in Tamil language as Veettai Paar Naattai Paar by director Thulasidas in 1994.

Plot[]

After retirement from Indian Railways, as station master, Raghavan Nair (Thilakan) is back at his home. His long cherished dream to spend his retired life with his family consisting of his wife (Kaviyoor Ponnamma), three sons and two daughters gets a blow after seeing his two sons brawling with each other over their political differences as well as the debilitating effect this has on the family. Prabhakaran (Sreenivasan), the elder one is a staunch leftist, and an active worker of the Revolutionary Democratic Party (RDP), which has just lost the Kerala state Assembly elections and relinquished office. Prakashan (Jayaram), popularly known as KRP, his younger brother is involved with the Indian National Secular Party (INSP), which has now come to power. Though they are both educated, neither has any plans to earn a living on their own and are fully immersed in petty politics, sponging off their parents for their needs.

Raghavan Nair becomes deeply worried about their future, and tries to advise his sons, but his admonitions fall on deaf ears. Anandan (Mala Aravindan), his son-in-law is a police sub-inspector, but is now on suspension. When RDP was in power, he had arrested and beaten up several of the opposition party workers on instruction from the ruling party officials. Now that the previous opposition is in power, they exact their revenge, first by transferring him repeatedly to stations as far from civilisation as is possible, and then by suspending him.

As part of his retired life, Raghavan Nair decides to focus his attention on his agricultural activities and meets the new young agricultural officer Udayabhanu (Siddique) and, with his wife's approval, wants their younger daughter Latika to marry him, but his elder sons oppose it for flimsy and petty reasons. Prakashan, whose party is in power, pulls strings and get him transferred immediately to a remote location in order to prevent the marriage, but Nair gets them married at the registrar's office.

In the meantime, Anandan and his wife Latha, Raghavan Nair's eldest daughter, demand partition of the property and their share, which Raghavan Nair objects to. The last straw is when their mother falls ill and is hospitalised for a day or so, and none of her children, especially the two older sons, show up at the hospital. Raghavan Nair, when he sees all of them milling around his house on returning from the hospital, loses his temper. He throws out all his children and orders them never to enter his house again. But to his surprise, he finds both Prakashan and Prabhakaran at the gate, fully repented. He calls them in and they begin a new life. Some time later we see Prabhakaran who has started working going to court as a lawyer and Prakashan going for a job interview as part of his efforts to change and gain employment. At the same time, it is also seen that Prasanthan, the school-going youngest son of Raghavan Nair, has decided to form a student political organisation to conduct a protest at his school. But, both his brothers having learnt their lesson the hard way scold him and destroy the flag and banners he was busy making. It is here the film ends with the message clear.

Cast[]

Legacy[]

Sandhesam is considered one of the best satire movies in the country. Many of the dialogues still find their way into the daily conversation of Malayalees. The infamous pennukaanal scene and the Poland dialogue is still etched into the viewer's hearts.

References[]

External links[]

• Sandhesam at IMDb
• Sandhesam at the Malayalam Movie Database