Maadambi
Scenarist-turned-director B. Unnikrishnan has shown much promise with his debut venture 'Smart City' which has Suresh Gopi in the lead. After the reasonable success of his first movie, B Unnikrishanan is back, this time with the making of a new flick 'Maadambi' with Mohanlal, in his own scripts. The major highlight of the movie is the teaming up of Kavya Madhavan for the first time as the heroine to Mohanlal. Though she had earlier acted alongside him in 'Onnaman' and 'Vadakkumnathan', all those were as the sister roles of the lead character'. The other highlight of the film according to the director is its strong but simple story, with which any villager can identify. The movie is also said to have powerful dialogues which can raise much applause from the fans of the star.
`Maadambi' is not the story of a feudal landlord, as the name indicates it to be. Instead it zooms into the life of Puthen Purakal Gopalakrishna Pillai, a man with a down to earth character in the village named Ilavattam. He is a moneylender by profession, who lends big money at very low interest-rates, even without any formal deeds. He is a man of principles though he has got his own ways of applying pressure tactics to get his money back on the date agreed upon. Gopalakrishan Pillai also runs a 'Vidyapeedom' tuition centre and even takes Malayalam classes occasionally, due to his love for his mother tongue and to instill an interest towards their language in every young citizen. Apart from these business ventures of which the later is at regular loss, Gopalakrishna Pillai also is a man who is always in front to fight for the justice of ordinary people around him.
The story takes a turn when a new generation bank, Grand Bank, opens their branch in the village, offering more monetary facilities and loans at low interest. The manager of the bank, and young lady named Jayalakshmi, was instrumental in inviting Gopalakrishna Pillai to the inaugural function, with her own secret intentions. She really knows everyone whom she meets in the village, though none recognizes her as a person who had a lot of dark memories attached with the village. Pillai maintains that his village doesn't need another bank, when he himself lends money on no strict terms. But he attends the function with a very definite purpose. This clash of interests between the two leading banking initiatives and associated developments forms the plot of the story, which also takes some of its time to tell about the strong familial and social bonding, still existing in villages.
Mohanlal plays Gopalakrishna Pillai while Kavya Madhavan becomes Jayalakshmi. Mohanlal who is expecting a big hit, looked happy and totally involved throughout the project which he finished in a record 47 days. He was in all admiration for a particular song in the movie 'Amma Mazhakarinu, Kann Niranju, Aa Kanneeril Njaan Nananju.' written by Girish Puthencherry and sung by the legendary singer Yesudas. The actor consider the song as one of the best that he have heard in recent times and that has been ever pictured on him. Lal also sings in his voice, a poem written by Anul Panachooran, for the film.
`Pranayakalam' fame Ajmal Ameer appears as the younger brother of Lal in the movie, while K P A C Lalitha appears as his mother. Also in the cast are Innocent, Jagathy Sreekumar, Saikumar, Siddhique, Manian Pillai Raju, Jagadheesh, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Kiran Raj, Mallika kapoor, Sreelatha Namboodhiri and Fatima Babu. Venu is in the charge of the camera while M Jayachandran gives music to the three songs of the movie. Joseph Nellickal is the art director and Manoj B S does the editing.
Majority of the movie was shot at Ottappalam and at Varikkaseey Mana' which is looked upon as the luckiest location for Mohanlal whose films like `Devasuram', `Ravanaprabhu', `Nara Simham' and `Aram Thampuran' to the latest `Hello', which were shot here were big hits.
Produced by B C Joshy under the banner of Surya Movies, `Maadambi' will be brought to fifty theaters on the fourth of July by Vaishakha Release.