Devasuram

Set in a very traditional 'valluvanadan' (a region of Kerala known for its affinity to art & culture) scene, this movie is easily one of the best movies in the history of Malayalam movies and quite possibly Indian movies in general. The story line depicts how a feudal lord, given his irreverent and spend thrift nature, is much vulnerable within. The vulnerability is exposed when the lord is told about his adoption as a kid by his ailing mother. What happens after that is depicted to absolute perfection by Mohanlal. Such performances that captures every bit of imagination and attention of the viewers runs through the whole film, by all the supporting cast. Couple that needs to be mentioned are that of Innocent and Oduvil Unnikrishnan.

All in all, if you do not watch this film, you are at loss!

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

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.

Not many films of Mohanlal combines the romantic aspect as well as the action parts well. This film appears to belong to the minority. There is real chemistry between Revathi and Lal. This film also has one of my favorite scenes. The sequence where Revathi upstages Lal after dancing for him is certainly an all time great scene. All the characters are etched well in this film (a rarity in Malayalam films). The only short comings are the allownces made for audiences in the form of fight sequences. The movie could have been so much stronger had it been dealt with a little more subtleness.

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.