Rajamanikyam

Rajamanikyam
Directed by	Anwar Rasheed
Produced by	Valiya Veettil Siraj
Screenplay by	T. A. Shahid
Starring	Mammootty Rahman Manoj K. Jayan Saikumar Ranjith Bheeman Raghu
Music by	Alex Paul
Cinematography	Sanjeev Shankar
Editing by	Ranjan Abraham
Studio	Valiyaveettil Movie International
Distributed by	Valiyaveettil Release
Release date(s)	November 3, 2005 (Kerala)
Running time	126 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Box office	12 crores

Rajamanikyam (Malayalam: രാജമാണിക്യം, English: King Manikyam) is a 2005 Malayalam film, the directorial debut of Anwar Rasheed, written by T. A. Shahid, and starring Mammootty in the title role.

The star cast included Rahman, Manoj K Jayan, Cochin Haneefa, Ranjith, Salim Kumar, Saikumar, Bheeman Raghu, Sindhu Menon, and Padmapriya. The music is composed by Alex Paul with lyrics by Gireesh Puthenchery. The film was produced by Siraj Valiyaveettil under the banner of Valiyaveettil Movie International. It tells the story of Bellary Raja, alias Rajamanikyam, who tries to unite his warring siblings.

Released during Ramadan 2005, the film became one of the highest grossing Malayalam films and the highest grossing film of 2005. The film grossed Rs. 16 crores in the long run.

Plot

In a village in South Kerala bordering Tamil Nadu lives a wealthy man named Raja Rathnam Pillai (Saikumar). Following the demise of his first wife, he marries Muthu Lakshmi Ammal so that the child from his marriage will not grow up without the love and care of a mother. Unknown to him, Muthu Lakshmi already has a son, whom she calls by the name Muthu.

On the night of the wedding, Muthu knocks at the door of Raja Rathnam Pillai, demanding that he be shown his mother. Once Raja Rathnam comes to know the truth, he takes Muthu into his care, giving him love, affection and a new name, "Rajamanikyam". Muthu returns the favour duly, as when Raja Rathnam's son ends up killing one of the children of the village, he takes the blame and leaves the village. Several years later, Raja Rathnam's two grown-up children, Rajaselvam (Manoj K. Jayan) and Rani Rathnam (Sindhu Menon), start fighting for their father's wealth. Rajaselvam, aided by his childhood buddy Simon Nadar (Ranjith) also notches up a plot to frame his own father in a murder case. As a result, Raja Rathnam is arrested, but dies of a heart attack while being taken to prison. After his death the two siblings call the family lawyer to read out Raja Rathnam's will in public. But to their surprise, they find that control of all the assets of their father have been given to a cattle dealer in Bellary, known by the name of Bellary Raja (Mammootty). They fail to recognize that Bellary Raja is none other than Rajamanikyam. How Rajamanikyam returns to his home town to unite the warring siblings forms the rest of the story.

During the course of the movie, Rajaselvam and Rani Rathnam realise that Bellary Raja is actually their stepbrother. They try all they can to thwart him, so that they can regain control of their father's wealth. But Bellary Raja never falls for any of their attempts and he uses educated Raju(Rahman) to stabilize the assets of his stepfather and prevents it from getting into the hands of his siblings, thereby preserving it. Raja effectively uses the help of his thug friends to restore order in the establishment. Towards the end of the movie, Rajaselvam and Simon Nadar get into an argument, which turns into a fight. Simon Nadar, who wants to harm Rajaselvam, betrays him and he is held by one of his old trade partner, who demands a lot of money for the release of Rajaselvam. Rajamanikyam comes to his rescue, pays the required amount of money to release Rajaselvam, and takes him home, where both of them settle their old enmities. The movie ends when Rajamanikyam, who is half-blind, says, "Now I have both eyes", signifying Raju (whom he considers a brother) and Rajasel.

Cast

• Mammootty as Bellary Raja, aka Rajamanikyam
• Rahman as Raju
• Manoj K. Jayan as Rajaselvam
• Ranjith as Simon Nadar
• Saikumar as Raja Rathnam Pillai
• Cochin Haneefa as Varghese
• Bheeman Raghu as Varkeychan
• Padmapriya as Malli
• Sindhu Menon as Rani Rathnam
• Salim Kumar as Dasappan

Release

The film was released on 43 screens.

Reception

Rajamanikyam was an instant hit and went on to become one of the all time biggest blockbusters in the history of Malayalam Cinema. It was highest grossing movie of 2005 and also broke several other box office records. The film in total grossed 12 crore in its long run.The movie ran 55 days in all its release station and 100 days run in 5 centers.

External links

• Rajamanikyam at the Internet Movie Database
• http://thatsmalayalam.oneindia.in/movies/news/2008/05/01/anwar-rsheed-again-with-mohanlal.html