Devasuram

This song written by Gireesh Puthenchery has been penned by MG Balakrishnan. That is Radhakrishnan. SP The background score was composed by Venkatesh.

Neelakantan is the heir apparent of Mangalassery's family. An absolutely stupid and exhausted man consuming the wealth and property of his father. He has friends who have gone for anything and he is a well-respected custodian named Warrier. Neelakantan enmity with Shekharan Nambis at the Mundakkal family. In the meanwhile, a stalwart employee Neelakantan killed Chekaran's uncle Kunhikrishnan Nambiar.

Then the course itself changes

This is easily one of the best Malayalam movies made. And one of the most iconic. The character of Mangalassery Neelakantan is as legendary a cult figure as it gets. The script was great, and so was the dialogue, both by Ranjith. No crass monologues as there would so often be a decade later. An example of the splendid dialogue (one example among many good ones) would be when Neelakantan talks about all the girls he'd romanced before as corpses, commending Bhanumati's character and calling her a real woman. Rarely in Indian cinema do we get a strong female lead (played so well by Revathi) going toe- to-toe with the male lead.

But the heart and soul of the movie was Mohanlal. Without him, there would be no Devasuram. The ease and spontaneity with which he essays that role is commendable. Such a role is easy to ruin with one- dimensional histrionics, but Mohanlal does not do so. Also, he always has that quality to bring a dash of vulnerability to even the most invincible of the characters he plays.

Even though this is one of my favourite movies I cannot give it a perfect 10 (I am tempted to do so). As great as it is, it could have potentially been even greater a movie, if it was handled with some more subtlety, like Irinjal rightly said. For example, the fight scenes were relevant to the plot, but a bit out of line with the realistic tone of the film, even with Mohanlal's larger-than-life character. The antagonist Shekharan could have been so much better than a bland, grimacing Napoleon. Imagine someone versatile like Siddique as Mundakkal Shekharan (sadly his versatility was exploited much later).

Devasuram is the best Malayalam film I have had the chance to witness as of yet . The film commands a certain aura of its own and perfectly strikes the cordial balance between what we so simply call as ' class' and 'mass ' . The characters so brilliantly written, the story told with utmost panache and the dialogues so written as onto the pages of the industry's history itself. Magalassery Neelakandan is probably the best character written for a Malayalam film and who better to portray it than Mr. Mohanlal himself who has given on screen a performance for the ages. The film easily holds its fort as a Golden Classic.

I'm a self-declared mohanlal fan in spite of his recent crap releases. I have watched devasuram umpteen number of times and every time i watch it i do realise that it is not his best performance but then what makes me watch this film is that perhaps there is nobody in Indian cinema who can do that role better than him. When mangalessery Neelakantan depicts his street fighter and spendthrift image i got to believe it. He doesn't leave a chance to question his different forms of dominance over society in the film as questionable from the analysing viewer point of view. His arrogance has a charm not just to the people whom he insults but also to me as a viewer. Its amazing how this man can control his histrionics so well. His scolding of Warrier ironically exudes a kind of respect that probably is the best in Indian films,famous for its father-son relationship dramas,though they are not father-son. His subsequent change of attitude(after knowing the truth)is fantastic.and so is his subtle romance with revathi who herself is very good in this. A must see for all mohanlal fans and non-mohanlal fans.

Mangalasheri Neelakandan, the name itself creates awe and hero worship. Easily the most powerful characters created in Malayalam cinema. Neelkandan, the feudal lord is cruel, alcholic, male chauvinist, goes to any extend for his win. He is a great patron of arts and proud of his family heritage. I just don't want to go into contents of Devasuram as there are no words to describe the beauty of this masterpiece. Full marks to the director for ensuring that the heroism of Neelan is depicted by the tiniest of characters. Devasuram belonged to I.V.Sasi the director, Ranjith for his heart touching script and all the actors in the movie be it Nedumudi Venu, Revathi, Napolean and so on. But above all Devasuram and Mangalasheri Neelakandan would never be a part of your soul without the genius of Mohanlal. The genius makes you wonder with his subtle acting whether displaying the anger, sorrow or helplessness of Neelan. Sir its a honor and privilege to be a mallayali and watch you in on screen. For me the story of Devasuram ends there and don't want to see Ravanaprabhu the sequel. Because Neelan is one the most powerful character to appear in cinema and the sequel don't justify it.