Midhunam

A Malayalam film about the effort to start a business. Sethumadhavan wants to open a biscuit factory. He will name it after his mother. He has a plan and determination, and two obstacles in front of him. The first is bureaucracy. Every permit depends on another desk, every desk wants something else, and some of the officials want money directly. The film shows all of this in detail and its humour comes from there. The second is his family. His brother and his brother-in-law are permanently at odds, the household has endless disputes, and Sethumadhavan feels he has to settle all of them. He marries Sulochana, his fiancée of long standing, and she complains that he no longer treats her as he did before. The strength is in running the two lines together: building a business and holding a household up require the same patience. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplay; Mohanlal and Urvashi lead, and Mohanlal's own company produced. Priyadarshan directed. It failed at the box office and acquired cult standing over the years. A warm example for anyone who likes Indian family comedy and stories of ordinary life. For a viewer expecting incident, the film consists almost entirely of household matters and official business.