Thenmavin Kombath

A Malayalam romantic comedy set in a village. Manikyan and Sreekrishnan are close friends. One is strong and reckless, the other the respected man of the village. Their friendship has lasted for years. Then Karthumbi arrives: a performer who comes to the village, headstrong and deferring to nobody. Both are drawn to her and the friendship turns instantly into rivalry. Manikyan and Karthumbi fight constantly at first, and the narrative slowly turns that hostility into something else. What the film is most discussed for is its look. The use of colour, the sets and the village square sequences were specially designed; the production won national awards for cinematography and production design. Mohanlal plays Manikyan, Shobana plays Karthumbi and Nedumudi Venu plays Sreekrishnan. Priyadarshan directed. It was the highest-grossing Malayalam production of 1994 and reached a theatrical run of more than two hundred and fifty days. It was remade in Tamil the following year and that version was a great success too. One of the period's best-loved productions for anyone who likes Indian cinema and visually rich romantic comedy. For a viewer expecting a tight narrative, the plot is simple and the film is long.