Sandesham

Hugely popular political satire penned by Sreenivasan. The film is equally brutal in its admonishment of both major political formations in Kerala. Veteran actor Thilakan, as always, is brilliant as the Station Master who returns home after retirement to find his sons Prabhakaran (Sreenivasan) & Prakashan (Jayaram) as jobless petty politicians. Their political rivalry spills over & begins to dictate every aspect of family life, this is the central theme of the film. The movie skillfully & hilariously exposes the double-speak & hypocrisy of the Communists and the corruption & sycophancy in the Congress party. No character or situation felt out of place during the entire film. Every character had a message for the masses- be it Siddique, as the upright agriculture officer, Mala Aravindan as the cowardly police inspector, Shankaradi as the Marxist ideologue or even Bobby Kottarakara as the small time party worker. "Sandesham" without any doubt ranks among the best Malayalam movies of all time & is best remembered for its dialogues, some of which have become part of the Kerala folklore. Kudos to Sathyan Anthikad & Sreenivasan for this fantastic creation!

One of the all time classics of Malayalam movie industry. The first half is excellent with superb comedies which very popular till now. The second half goes into a normal Indian movie type.

Raghavan nair(Thilakan) is a station master in tamil nadu. After retiring, he returns back to his village in kerala to live the rest of his life happily with his wife and children. But he comes to know that his two sons prabhakaran(sreenivasan) and prakashan(jayaram) are jobless local politicians working for rival parties rdp(left) and insp(congress) respectively. Initially raghavan feels proud of his sons political ambitions later he realises it's problems he and his family had to face. Will he be able to reform his sons? The biggest highlight of sandesham is its refreshing humor which never leaves me with a smile on my face. One reason why this film is considered as one of the best films made in malayalam is because it showed equally the flaws of the ruling and opposition party. If sreenivasan had only shown the flawed side of either one of them, it would have been called as a propaganda film. Thilakan, jayaram, sreenivasan, maamukoya, oduvil unnikrishnan, mala, shankaradi, maadhu, kaviyoor ponamma and innocent(in a hilarious cameo as a hindi politician) all gave superb performances but my favorite is siddique as the agriculture officer udayabhanu. Sandesham and panchavadi paalam are considered as the best political satire films in malayalam but I would prefer pp over sandesham. Because sandesham is not just a brilliant satire but also an excellent family drama. PP was a full fledged satire. Sandesham is a film which I never get tired watching.

I have watched this movie like a 100 times and not once has this movie failed to put a smile on my face...There aren't many movies that makes you laugh and think at the same time.If a non malayalee watch this movie without subs he would mistake it for a serious movie..that's the beauty of the film. It's the situations and the sarcasm that gives you laughs rather than the stupid gimmicks other comedy movies resort to.The movie delivers socio-political messages at multiple levels, a rare cinematic feat in malayalam cinema. The importance of family, parent's blind love for their children,the time we waste on stupid arguments,political manipulation and many other events that we can relate to our daily lives come and go in a beautiful manner. wonder why they don't make movies like this anymore....

This is an all time favourite movie of most Malayalis. Some scenes tickle your funny bones. In some scenes it's heart wrenching to see the poor father suffer because of his sons who are political rivals but the messaging is so strong and so relevant that you cannot stop admiring this political satire.