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Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu

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Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu
File:Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySathyan Anthikkad
Written byRaghunath Paleri
StarringSreenivasan
Jayaram
Urvashi
Shari
Innocent
Parvathy
CinematographyVipin Mohan
Music byJohnson
Release date
1988
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Ponmuttayidunna Tharavu (English: The Duck that Lays Golden Eggs; Malayalam: പൊന്മുട്ടയിടുന്ന താറാവ്‌) is a 1988 Malayalam comedy drama film written by Raghunath Paleri and directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. Sreenivasan, Jayaram, Urvashi, Innocent, Parvathy and Shari plays the pivotal roles. The film was critically acclaimed and was a big commercial success. Late actor Krishnan Kutty Nair played the role of Thattan Gopalan (Sreenivasan's father) and once Sathyan Anthikkad referred to it as the most brilliant performances by any actor in his films.

Plot

Bhaskaran(Sreenivasan), the local village goldsmith is in love with Snehalatha(Urvashi), the daughter of P.V.Panicker(Innocent), the local astrologer. They are neighbors. Snehalatha asks for a gold necklace made of 10 pavans (sovereigns) as a symbol of Bhaskaran's love. Bhaskaran makes a necklace and hands it over to Snehalatha. An angry Panicker (her father) finds this out, admonishes her and pockets the golden necklace. He reasons that it was "brotherly love" which made Bhaskaran give the necklace to his daughter.

Bhaskaran becomes impatient and finally he decides to march to the neighbouring Panicker's home and ask Snehalatha to marry him. In this daring mission he is accompanied by his friends and well wishers namely the Velichappad, an oracle(Jagathi Sreekumar), Paappi the trader (Oduvil Unnikrishnan), Aboobacker(Mamukkoya), Hajjiyar the tea-shop owner(Karamana Janardanan Nair). Madhavan Nair(Sankaradi), an elderly respectable citizen of the village also joins in. A heated argument ensues at Panicker's household, Snehalatha finally denying any love affair with Bhaskaran and Panicker refusing to return the golden necklace. Panicker argues that such a golden necklace does not exist.

Panicker's ambition was to get his daughter married off to a man working in the Middle East. He finds Pavithran(Jayaram), who is an orphan. A few days before the marriage, Panicker walks up to the tea-shop where the regular patrons are in attendance. There he shows a golden necklace saying that he purchased it from a nearby town and that it was a gift from him to his daughter. The village crowd appreciates Panicker's fatherly love. Bhaskaran finds out that this necklace was none other than the one he had given to Snehalatha a few months back.

Bhaskaran soon becomes the joke of the village, with people saying that he was a fool to give the necklace (if such a thing existed), without any guarantee or surety. Life goes on in the village. A dancing school is started by a lady (Shari) on the second floor of Aboobacker's dilapidated tea-shop building. Paappi continues to buy and sell cows and calves, and Madhavan Nair makes his routine night visits to the village prostitute. The Velichappad is busy organising the local temple festival. Supported by his friends Bhaskaran starts a small jewellery shop in the village.

Time flies, Pavithran marries Snehalatha and he goes back to the Middle eastern country. Snehalatha is pregnant and she comes back to her house for delivery. Soon the baby is born, and Pavithran also comes back. To the shock of the Panicker family, Pavithran says he is not planning to go back and plans to buy a truck and settle down in Kerala. His job in the foreign country was not good. He is in need of more funds to finance his truck. He notices the gold necklace his wife regularly adorned herself with, which was worth 10 pavans. Although Snehalatha refuses to give it, Pavithran takes it from her to pawn it for some quick money.

Pavithran consults Bhaskaran as he is the village goldsmith. Bhaskaran checks the necklace and confirms whether the necklace was given to him by Panicker. And when his regular friends have gathered in the village square, Bhaskaran declares that the necklace is made of brass, containing very little gold. Pavithran now humiliated, with his wife and kid storms into Panicker's home. He feels that he has been short charged, and Snehalatha was not true to him. Panicker is forced to admit that this necklace was not some thing which he purchased, but was given by Bhaskaran to Snehalatha some years back. The love affair of Snehalatha and Bhaskaran also now comes out in the open. This irritates Pavithran even further as he now feels everyone was tricking him. The villagers too take up sides, and a huge fight starts.

Like in a typical village, the fight soon stops and every thing returns to normal. Pavithran decides to take back his wife and daughter. The movie ends with a note which indicates that Bhaskaran too has found his true love in the dance teacher.

Cast

Trivia

  • This movie was initially titled Ponmutta Idunna Thattaan(പൊന്മുട്ടയിടുന്ന തട്ടാൻ) (the goldsmith who lays the golden eggs). This was later changed after severe protests from the goldsmith community in Kerala.
  • This movie was shot in a village near Thrithala (തൃത്താല) in Palakkad Dt. Kerala.
  • This film was remade in Hindi as Dus Tola starring Manoj Bajpai in Sreenivasan's role. This film is distributed by Warner Bros..