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Rajamanikyam
Promotional poster
Directed byAnwar Rasheed
Written byT. A. Shahid
Produced byValiyaveettil Siraj
StarringMammootty
CinematographySanjeev Shankar
Edited byRanjan Abraham
Music byAlex Paul
Production
company
Valiyaveettil Movie International
Distributed byValiyaveettil Release & PJ Entertainments
Release date
  • 1 November 2005 (2005-11-01)[1]
(Kerala)
Running time
126 minutes
CountryIndia
Budget₹2.30 crore[2]

Rajamanikyam is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language action comedy film directed by Anwar Rasheed and written by T. A. Shahid. It stars Mammootty in the title role along with Rahman,[3] Manoj K Jayan, Cochin Haneefa, Ranjith, Salim Kumar, Sai Kumar, Bheeman Raghu, Sindhu Menon, and Padmapriya in supporting roles. The music is composed by Alex Paul.

It tells the story of Rajamanikyam aka Bellary Raja (Mammootty), a Karnataka based illiterate business tycoon who tries to unite his warring siblings.[4][5] The film was remade in Kannada as Bellary Naga (2009) with Vishnuvardhan in lead. Rajamanikyam was the highest grossing Malayalam movie until 2008.[6] The film was released on 1 November during Deepawali. The film was dubbed and released in Tamil with same name in 2007.

Plot

In a village in Southern Kerala bordering Tamil Nadu lives a wealthy and respectful businessman named Raja Rathnam Pillai. Following the demise of his first wife, he marries Muthu Lakshmi so that Raja Selvam, the child from his first marriage will not grow up without the love and care of a mother. Unknown to him, Muthu Lakshmi already has a son, whom she calls Muthu.

On the night of the wedding, Muthu knocks at the door of Raja Rathnam, demanding that he be shown his mother. Once Raja Rathnam realises the truth, he takes Muthu into his care, giving him love, affection and a new name, "Rajamanikyam". Muthu returns the favour duly, as when Selvam ends up killing one of the children of their village, he takes up the blame and leaves the village, after getting a bit on his left eye.

Several years later, Raja Rathnam's two grown-up children, Selvam and Rani, quarrel for their father's wealth. Selvam, aided by his childhood buddy Simon Nadar also notches up a plot to frame his own father in a murder case. Raja Rathnam is implicated in a sensitive political murder. As a result, Raja Rathnam is arrested and remanded. While taking Rathnam to the prison from the premises of the court, a wide scale altercation erupts - between Rathnam's supporters and the sycophants of the slain politician. Amidst the chaos, a huge stone is pelted at Raja Rathnam - severely injuring him. (The stone is pelted by the actual assailant). Witnessing the riots, Raja Rathnam dies of a heart attack - sitting inside the police van - while being taken to the prison.

After his death the two siblings are summoned by the family lawyer to read out the provisions of Raja Rathnam's will. But to their surprise, they find that control of all the assets of their father have been transferred to a Bellary based businessman named Bellary Raja. They fail to recognize that Bellary Raja is none other than Rajamanikyam.

Raja Selvam and Rani Rathnam tries to thwart Manikyam in order to regain control of their father's wealth. But Manikyam never falls for any of their attempts and he uses his adopted brother and manager Raju to stabilize the assets of his stepfather and prevents it from getting into the hands of his siblings, thereby preserving it. Raja effectively uses the help of his thug friends to restore order in the establishment. Manikyam's identity is revealed by himself at a crucial juncture and revelation stuns the entire family. Simon and Raja Selvam sends a goon to kill Bellary from his blind side. However, Bellary thwarts the attempt, lightly wounding him.

Differences emerge between Raja Selvam and Simon Nadar regarding a financial liability. Simon betrays Selvam him and he is held captive by a boorish Tamil moneylender Perumal - who demands the repayment for the release of Selvam. Rani - unaware of the latter developments - blames Manikyam in order to deny them their claim over their father's wealth. Manikyam comes to the rescue and pays the required amount of money to release Raja Selvam. He emotionally narrates his hardships and love for his siblings - stirring the emotions of his mother and siblings. Feeling deeply disappointed - on being unable to fulfill his father's wish to unite their family, Manikyam prepares to leave for Bellary.

At that night Selvam, being absolutely drunk and weeping comes to Manikyam's house and apologizes for all his past deeds and embraces him - burying all differences. He asks Manikyam not to leave them. Manikyam is deeply moved and laments that, Raja Rathnam was unfortunate as he 'left early' (An untimely death) and he could not witness the conciliation. Varghese, a close confidant of Raja Rathnam, reveals that, Raja Rathnam was rather 'packed off' (A murder) - resulting in the narration of the deceit and Manikyam and acolytes go in search for the actual assailant. When the real culprit is caught, he reveals the main conspirator was Simon Nadar. Selvam and Simon gets into an argument-turned-fight. Selvam gets beaten badly by Simon and his goons was about to be killed. However, Manikyam, Raju and their henchman Varkey came to rescue Selvam and fight off Simon and his henchmen.

Manikyam releases a bull towards Simon and kills him for killing Raja Rathnam and trying to destroy his family. He reunites with Rajaselvam and takes him home. The movie ends when Rajamanikyam, who is half-blind, says, "Now I have both eyes", signifying Raju (whom he considers a brother) and Selvam.

Cast

Narayanankutty and Pradeep Kottayam appear as board members of Rajarathnam group. Biju Sopanam appears in an uncredited role as an aide to the assassin, played by Santosh Jogi.

Production

Actor Suraj Venjaramoodu was roped in to help Mammootty get the hang of the slang spoken in the border areas of Trivandrum. Mammootty was highly praised for rendering the slang efficiently and that contributed greatly to it becoming a mega mass film. Rajamanikyam was completed in Pollachi in a record time of 55 days.

Reception

Sreenath Nair of the Deccan Herald wrote, "Mammooty does justice to his superstar tag and his portrayal of Bellary Raja eclipses the rest of the cast - Cochin Haneefa, Sai Kumar, Manoj K Jayan, etc. Anwar Rasheed's debut is not bad but more care on delineation, music and cinematography would have helped the Bellary Raja."[7]

Box office

The film was released to high expectations, with Valiyaveethil Films collecting ₹2 crore from theatre advances for the film.[8] It was released on 4 November 2005 in 45 theatres in Kerala, on the occasion of Ramzan, along with Ananthabhadram and Boyy Friennd.[9] The film was a major commercial success and became the highest grossing Malayalam film until 2008.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] The film ran for more than 140 days in the theaters.[22][23] It is the first Malayalam film to have ₹1 crore center gross from Ernakulam. The film completed its 100 days at Kavitha, Ernakulam, from where it got a record distributors' share of Rs. 42 lakhs.[24][25] The film also ran for 200 days in Thiruvananthapuram Kripa theatre.[26]

Legacy

The character of Bellary Raja attained cult status in Kerala. The dialogues of the film were referred to in many other films most noteworthy being in Malayalam film Premam (during the second intro of Nivin Pauly). Moreover, the costumes of Mammootty in the film went onto become a trend setter in Kerala.[27] Mammotty's dialogue in the film, "Yevan Puliyanuketta…." has become an iconic Malayalam catchphrase.[28]

References

  1. ^ "11 Years of Mammoottty's Rajamanikyam: 5 Important Contributions of the Film!". 3 November 2016.
  2. ^ "'Rajamanickam'-A sequel". Sify. 7 December 2005. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016.
  3. ^ Soman, Deepa. "Mammootty advised Rahman to take Rajamanikyam". Times of India. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  4. ^ "Rajamanikyam Review". Now Running. Retrieved 3 August 2005.
  5. ^ "Rajamanickam". Sify. Moviebuzz. Archived from the original on 2 November 2015.
  6. ^ "Mammootty - Forbes India Magazine". Forbes India. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  7. ^ "Raajamanikyam - Deccan Herald - Internet Edition". 4 September 2006. Archived from the original on 4 September 2006. Retrieved 23 March 2023.
  8. ^ "'Rajamanickam' –Red hot!". Sify. 11 December 2005. Archived from the original on 11 December 2005. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  9. ^ "Ramzan films open big!". Sify. 7 November 2005. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Boom year for mollywood". The Hindu. 30 December 2005. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016.
  11. ^ "2005- An analysis". Sify. 22 December 2005. Archived from the original on 14 November 2016.
  12. ^ "Mammootty's son in Anwar Rasheed's film". Rediff.com. 29 November 2011.
  13. ^ "Malayalam box-office". Sify. 22 December 2005. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021.
  14. ^ "Vishnuvardhan takes on Mammootty". Rediff.com. 6 October 2009.
  15. ^ "Mammootty - Forbes India Magazine". Forbes. Retrieved 12 June 2021.
  16. ^ "Fabulous Fifteen". The New Indian Express. 18 January 2010.
  17. ^ "Chotta Mumbai is a fun film". Rediff.com. 28 March 2007.
  18. ^ "Top Malayalam films, 2005". Rediff.com. 28 December 2005.
  19. ^ John, Nevin (6 February 2013). "Picture isn't perfect in Mollywood". Business Standard.
  20. ^ "A Mammootty double treat!". Rediff.com. 2 April 2004.
  21. ^ "Malayalam cinema ready for Vishu". Rediff.com. 2 April 2006.
  22. ^ "'Classmates' break 'Rajamanickam' record!". Sify. 11 October 2006. Archived from the original on 6 November 2016.
  23. ^ John, Nevin (15 March 2006). "Picture isn't perfect in Mollywood". Business Standard.
  24. ^ "11 Years Of Mammoottty's Rajamanikyam: 5 Important Contributions Of The Film!". www.filmibeat.com. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
  25. ^ "The Hindu : Friday Review Thiruvananthapuram : Reign of the superstars". 17 July 2006. Archived from the original on 17 July 2006. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
  26. ^ "Kerala Showtimes - Rajamanikyam". 22 August 2006. Archived from the original on 22 August 2006. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  27. ^ "11 Years Of Mammoottty's Rajamanikyam: 5 Important Contributions Of The Film!". filmibeat.com. 3 November 2016. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
  28. ^ "2005- An analysis - Sify.com". Sify. 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2022.

External links

Anwar Rasheed
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