Manthrika Kuthira
Manthrika Kuthira is a 1996 Malayalam crime thriller film directed by Viji Thampi, starring Manoj K. Jayan, Vani Viswanath and Mohini in the lead roles.
| Manthrika Kuthira | |
|---|---|
 Film VCD cover | |
| Directed by | Viji Thampi |
| Produced by | PT Abraham, Jose Mathew |
| Written by | Screenplay, Dialogues : Kaloor Dennis |
| Based on | Story: Kummanam Said |
| Starring | Manoj K. Jayan Vani Viswanath Mohini Dileep |
| Music by | Tomin J Thachankary |
| Cinematography | Saloo George |
| Edited by | Sreekar Prasad. |
Release date |
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| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
Plot
The film start with Police squad lead by Circle Inspector Venugopal (Lalu Alex) adventurously arrests Kondotty Jaffar (Baburaj) who is wanted for murder and rape of four women. Public prosecutor Sunny Kuruvilla (Manoj K. Jayan) manages to get Jaffar convicted. Jaffar threatens to murder Sunny and family when he is sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Sunny leads happy life with his wife Ancy (Vani Viswanath ) and a young daughter who is studying in a boarding school away from home. Sunny is a popular novelist as well with a great female following which Ancy is not happy about. The couple leads a romantic life. Ancy's sister Sonia (Mohini), a college student also visit them often. Jose Kuruvilla (Dileep), Sunny's younger brother is an aspiring , but unsuccessful film director. He brands himself as Prem Gandhi and is in love with Sonia, but fails to reveal his heart to her.
The couple along with Jose, Sonia and Sunny's parents set out to Ootty to visit their daughter in boarding school. Unbeknownst to them, Jaffar escapes from prison and evades attempts by Police to catch him. Police officer Venugopal tries to warn Sunny, but fails to reach him. Ancy gets injured when the car collides with a truck in Ootty.
Back home, Venugopal arranges two constables on duty for protecting Sunny and family against any attacks from Jaffar. Ancy is prescribed complete bed rest for three months. This prevents sexual relationship and lead to frustrations between the couple. Ancy also becomes suspicious of Sunny's interaction with Sonia. Ancy insists Sonia to go back to her hostel. Jose accompanies her to Trivandrum.
Jose, on returning home, hears a gunshot while talking to the policemen on duty. Ancy is found shot dead in her bedroom with a revolver nearby. Sunny was outside on dinner with friends at that time. Jaffar was seen entering the compound before the incident. Postmortem reports reveals that Ancy has consumed an overdose of sleeping pills before death. Venugopal starts investigating the death and identifies the presence of Jaffer on the scene from footprint leading up to Ancy's room.
Sonia receives a suicide note in post from Ancy in post a few days later. As a death wish, Ancy pleads Sonia to take care of her daughter. A visibly depressed Sunny takes to alcohol. The parents arranges a marriage between Sunny and Sonia. Though both of them hesitates initially, eventually gets married. On the first night, Sonia is startled to see Jaffar staring through the bedroom window. He ran off when Sunny wakes up.
Sonia finds the manuscript of a novel written by Sunny. She is aware that this is unpublished as Sunny requested the publisher not to. She is startled to discover that a part of the novel contains the exact suicide note that she received from Ancy. When she cross checks with the copy of the manuscript from the publisher, she finds that the part with the suicide note is missing. Sonia tries to resist the advances of Sunny to have physical relationship. Sonia also finds Ancy's diary which described Sunny's infatuation towards Sonia and his abusive behavior when confronted. Sonia confides in Venugopal.
Sunny on reaching home that night finds his home deserted. He receives a call from the land phone from Jaffer and immediately sets off to meet him. They meet in an abandoned building where Jaffer tries to blackmail Sunny. Sunny tries to shoot Jaffer when Venugopal who set up the meeting intervenes. Jaffar reveals that he witnessed Sunny murdering Ancy with a revolver after giving her milk overdosed with sleeping pills. On the subsequent altercation, Sunny kills Jaffer and Venugopal. He goes looking for Sonia and attacks Sonia and her father, but subsequently surrenders.
The film ends with Sunny locked up in a mental asylum with Sonia and his daughter visiting him.
Cast
- Manoj K. Jayan .... Adv.Sunny Kuruvilla
- Vani Viswanath .... Ancy Sunny
- Mohini .... Sonia Cherian
- Lalu Alex .... Venugopal
- Dileep .... Jose Kuruvilla a.k.a Prem Gandhi a.k.a Josootty
- Baburaj .... Kondotty Jaffar
- Viji Thampi .... Mathew Varghese
- Janardhanan .... Kunjukutty
- Jagannatha Varma .... Cheriyachan
- Kalabhavan Mani .... Sunny's Assistant
- N F Varghese .... Police Officer
- Darshana.... House maid
Legal conflict
In 1996, writer Sunil Parameswaran filed a case against Viji Thampi alleging that the film was plagiarized from his drama Crime Page No. 32. However, the verdict was in favour of Viji Thampi.
Trivia
- Viji Thampi appears in a cameo role in the film like he does for all of his other films.
- This was one of the last films Dileep collaberated with Manoj K Jayan in the 1990s. After 1996, the duo has not acted together for 12 years with Dileep becoming a lead actor and Manoj K Jayan changing to support roles.
- The film contains steamy scenes and sexual references unusual for a Viji Thampi movie.