Godfather

Godfather was the third directorial venture of successful duo Siddique-Lal after surprise hit ramji rao speaking and cult blockbuster in harihar Nagar. It marked the silver screen debut of legendary theatre artist N. N. Pilla as Anjooran. Godfather narrates the story of two rival families Anjooran and Aanapara. Problems arise when Anjooran's son ramabhadran and Aanapara girl Malu fall in love with each other. Reading this, you may wonder this is another Romeo-Juliet story but no. Even though the story is melodramatic, siddique lal gives this with their signature humour touch. Each and every comedy scene of this film is afresh in malayalee audience in mind. Though mukesh is the hero, it's the supporting cast pilla, innocent, jagadeesh, philomina etc who dominate the film. Godfather is the longest running Malayalam film ever. It ran for 400 days breaking the record of Mohanlal's Chitram. Godfather is my favorite Siddique Lal movie.

No. Do not even compare it to the Hollywood cult classic. They are chalk and cheese. Malayali Godfather is a Masala film like no other. I'm not a big fan of Masala movies, I cannot tolerate them in fact. But this one has the right amount of ingredients - Comedy, Romance, Action, Melodrama. One of my all time favourite Masala Malayalam movie, its way better than its Hindi remake- Hulchul although the Hindi one is a scene to scene copy.

Godfather (1991) : Brief Review -

The Grandfather of All Family Action-Comedies made in Malayalam Cinema. All hail Siddiqui-Lal Duo!!! 1991 was meant to be the Most Memorable year for Malayalam Cinema when they got so Many Cult Films in different genres. Sandesam, Kilukkam, Amaram, Bharatham and Godfather five cult in five different genres, all in the same year. Any other year has competition for that? I don't think so. I have watched 'Hulchul' many times on TV and enjoyed it a lot which was nothing but just a simple copy-paste of this Malayalam Classic. Siddique-Lal who had already delivered couple of evergreen comedies in Malayalam cinema, came up with another timeless script and their direction made it even better. The writing of this film has done half the job as it mixes up multiple elements like Comedy, Action, Drama and Family Values together very nicely and nothing looks outdated or cliched. That's the best thing you know because you are not doing anything out of the world, you are just using same old formulas with some new ideas inspired by youth's references and blend it perfectly by carrying two generations together in one narrative. Two young scions from rival families each pretend to fall in love with the other in order to humiliate their rivals, but end up falling in love for real. Now they must find a way to get married anyhow by convincing or tricking their family members. The entire cast Unit in the film is perfectly suitable to their characters. Mukesh, N. N. Pillai, Thilakan, Innocent, Bheeman Raghu, Kanaka, Jagadish, Siddique and Philomina every single artist has done fabulous in his/her own way. The screenplay is engaging and doesn't let you find any boring moments and that's why the film has high repeat value. If i had not seen Hulchul so many times then i would have definitely watched this one multiple times. Overall, another Timeless Comedy and Must See Product by Siddiqui-Lal.

RATING - 8/10*

By - #samthebestest.

I'm trying hard to bring out words to describe this movie. The amount of comic genius put into the writing of the Malayalam comedies of those times is just unparalleled. Everyone in this movie was great. Everyone, ranging from Philomena, to NNP, to Thilakan, Mukesh... all of them all gave their best to make this a laugh riot to remember. Also, Mukesh is a very under-rated actor. He needs to be given more role varieties like in the recent "Jomonte...". One of the greatest comedies ever. But hey, almost all of the great Malayalam comedies of that time count as one of the greatest comedies ever made. Truly, Malayalam cinema from those times was all-encompassing and had a class of it's own.

I must admit that Godfather is in my top Malayalam comedy list, along with In Harihar Nagar, Nadodikattu, AkkaraEakkare and Kilukkam.Disguised as a drama feud between two families as being the plot, the plot is delivered with so much comedy that it is first and foremost a laughing bonanza. The dialogue that's delivered in this movie is great and you need to understand Malayalam to really get the full effect - most times subtitles do not serve the local colloquialisms justice. If you like a good, old Malayalam comedy and have not seen this one you are definitely missing out.

The actors do a great job with Jagadish, Mukesh and N.N. Pillia commanding the leads. N.N. Pillai in his old age played the role of a disgruntled, senile patriarch of a gunda family perfectly. The events that unfold in the movie are great - the music is entertaining as well!

Joe