Aryan (1988 film)
Aryan is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language action crime film directed by Priyadarshan and written by T. Damodaran. The film stars Mohanlal, Ramya Krishnan, Sharat Saxena, Shobana, Sreenivasan, Gavin Packard, M. G. Soman and Goga Kapoor. It was produced by Mohanlal and Century Kochumon through the company Cheers Films. Aryan tells the tale of an underworld battle and family bonds through Devanarayanan who arrives in Bombay with nothing and rises to become a gangster in a powerful crime gang.
| Aryan | |
|---|---|
 Poster designed by P. N. Menon | |
| Directed by | Priyadarshan |
| Produced by | Mohanlal Century Kochumon |
| Written by | T. Damodaran |
| Starring | Mohanlal Ramya Krishnan Sharat Saxena M. G. Soman Gavin Packard Shobana |
| Music by | Reghu Kumar (Songs) Johnson (Score) |
| Cinematography | S. Kumar |
| Edited by | N. Gopalakrishnan |
Production company | Cheers Films |
| Distributed by | Century |
Release date |
|
Running time | 180 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
Aryan was one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of the year. It ran for over 200 days in theatres. Mohanlal won the Kerala State Film Award – Special Jury Award for acting. The film was dubbed in Hindi as Aaryan Mera Naam. Aryan was remade in Tamil as Dravidan (1989), in Telugu as Ashoka Chakravarthy (1989). It was remade in Kannada as Chakravarthy (1990). Saxena reprised his role in all the versions.
Plot
Devanarayanan (Devan) (Mohanlal) is a Brahmin priest from Kerala, who has to look after his entire impoverished family. He is in love with Aswathy (Shobana), but her corrupt father Govindan Nair (Innocent) is against their relationship. The wicked local businessman Arumukhan (M.G. Soman), along with Govindan Nair, Inspector Chandrappan (C.I. Paul), and their coterie of corrupt men of influential positions falsely accuse Devanarayanan of the theft of the local temple's Thiruvabharana (Deity's ornaments) and fabricate him in the case. Devan's father (Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair) loses his trust on his son and Devan is forced to leave his village.
He reaches Bombay where he gets shelter from Kunjali (Balan K. Nair) and his daughter Sainaba (Monisha), who runs a tea shop. Some turn of events draws Devanarayanan into the underworld and he becomes the trusted aide of an ageing don Kareem (Goga Kapoor), who had lost his wife, brother, and uncle in an underworld gang war decades ago. Sainaba is in love with Kareem's only son. Their marriage gets fixed when Devan convinces both Kareem and Kunjali.
Nirmala (Ramya Krishnan), who is working for Kareem's gang, gets closer to Devanarayanan. Nair (Kundara Johnny), who was a trusted secretary to Kareem, joins hands together with the rival don Majeed Khan (Sharat Saxena) after feeling jealous and dejected when Kareem starts giving more importance to Devan. Kareem's son and daughter-in-law Sainaba, along with Kunjali are shot dead by Majeed Khan, Nair, and their henchmen during the Holi celebrations, leaving Kareem on a path towards religion and leaving all underworld business for good.
Majeed Khan and Nair plan to leave Bombay, but Devan successfully attacks them and gets them arrested. Devan is then sentenced to a five year imprisonment.
After he gets released, Devan along with his lover Nirmala leave for Kerala. He proves his innocence to his parents and family and teaches a lesson to all those wicked men who had once fabricated him.
But, by that time, Majeed Khan and Nair reach Kerala to take revenge from Devan and kill Nirmala. Devan kills both Khan and Nair.
The film ends tragically with a furious Devanarayanan screaming at the judge in the court of law for having being imprisoned under fabricated accusations.
Cast
- Mohanlal as Devanarayanan Namboothiri/ Devan
- Ramya Krishnan as Nirmala/Nimmi
- Sharat Saxena as Majeed Khan, a powerful underworld don in Mumbai
- Goga Kapoor as Kareem Seth, an aged powerful underworld don in Mumbai
- Kundara Johny as Nair, ex-secretary to Kareem, later Majeed Khan's henchman
- Shobhana as Aswathy
- Sreenivasan as 'Sakhavu' Karunan, a corrupt politician
- M. G. Soman as Arumukhan
- Innocent as Govindan Nair, Aswathy's father
- Maniyanpilla Raju as Adv. Radhakrishnan, Aswathy's husband
- Sukumari as Thampuratti, Devan's mother
- Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair as Namboothiri Thampuran, Devan's father
- Kuthiravattam Pappu as Hassan
- Balan K. Nair as Kunjali
- Monisha as Sainaba/Sainu, Kunjali's daughter
- Gavin Packard as Martin, a local goon
- Priya as Subhadra, Devan's younger sister
- Sithara as Dhathrikutty, Devan's youngest sister
- Sreenath as Unnikrishnan, Dhathrikutty's husband
- C.I. Paul as Inspector Chandrappan, a corrupt police officer and Aramukhan's accomplice
- Kaithapram Damodaran Namboothiri as Oikyan, Devan's 'Guru'
- Milind Gawali as Kareem's son and Sainaba's husband
- Bob Christo as a Goon
Soundtrack
The music was composed by Raghu Kumar and the lyrics were written by Kaithapram.
| No. | Song | Singers | Lyrics | Length (m:ss) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Om Jai Jagadeesh Hare" | Sujatha Mohan | Kaithapram | 01:09 |
| 2 | "Ponmuraliyoothum" | M. G. Sreekumar, Sujatha Mohan | Kaithapram | 03:33 |
| 3 | "Shaanthimanthram Theliyum" | Kaithapram, M. G. Sreekumar, Sujatha Mohan | Kaithapram | 05:53 |
Box office
The film was a commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of the year. It ran for over 200 days in theatres.[1]
Remake
Aryan was later remade in Tamil as Dravidan (1989) by Suresh Balaje, with Sathyaraj playing the lead role. It was also remade in Telugu as Ashoka Chakravarthy (1989) starring Nandamuri Balakrishna and unofficially as Dhruva Nakshatram (1989) both of which were released on the same day, and in Kannada as Chakravarthy (1990) starring Ambareesh.
References
- Sidhardhan, Sanjith (24 January 2017). "Priyan and I share a special bond: Mohanlal". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 May 2020.
I remember, in the late 80s when I had a hat-trick of hits - Vellanakalude Nadu did 150 days, Aryan 200 days and Chithram, 366 days.