Nandanam (film)


Nandanam is a 2002 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written, co-produced, and directed by Ranjith. It stars
Navya Nair and Prithviraj Sukumaran, along with Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Revathi, and Aravind Akash. Singer K. J. Yesudas made a cameo appearance. It was the debut film of Prithviraj. Ranjith co-produced the film with Siddique. The music was composed by Raveendran. The film was released on 20 December 2002. The film won four Kerala State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards South—Best Film and Best Actress,

Plot

Balamani is a young orphaned girl and housemaid. She is an ardent devotee of Lord Krishna. Balamani takes care of Unniyamma who lives in her ancestral house. Unniyamma considers Balamani like her own daughter. For Balamani, Lord Krishna and Unnyamma are everything. Despite being a devotee of Lord Krishna, she had never been able to visit Guruvayur Temple since her childhood and is always sad for the same. Unniyamma's grandson, Manu comes from Bangalore to stay with his grandmother for a few days before leaving to the US. Balamani is astonished at the sight of Manu, because she had dreamt him before in which the two were getting married. Eventually, they fall in love.
Manu's mother, who was unaware of this affair, asks Manu to marry her friend's daughter. Manu discloses his wish to his mother, but in vain, as his mother had taken the marriage preparations to a point of no-return. His decision to marry the housemaid was not welcomed by the relatives and Manu was forced to go through the arranged marriage that was set for him. Disheartened, Balamani prays to Lord Guruvayurappan to give her strength to let go of her love. Unnikrishnan, whom Balamani lovingly calls "Unniettan" her neighbour befriends her and consoles her saying that everything will fall in place at the end.
The bride of Manu elopes with her lover as she doesn't have interest in this marriage. Thus the words of the neighbour becomes true.Unniyamma creates a scene in which supports Balamani after which Manu and Balamani get happily married in Guruvayur Temple in front of Lord Guruvayurappan. After the marriage, she goes to visit Unnikrishnan at his house, but is shocked to learn that the real Unnikrishnan is someone else. She rushes back to temple and realizes that whom she met as Unniettan, her friend who consoled her, was Lord Krishna himself.

Cast

The most critically acclaimed and popular songs of this film were written by Gireesh Puthenchery and composed by maestro Raveendran.
The songs were on chart for weeks and the song Karmukil Varnante become highly popular and won Kerala State Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer.

Reception

Box office

The film became a commercial success at the box office.. The performances of Navya Nair, Prithviraj and Revathy were appreciated especially Navya whose performance led her to win many awards most notably the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress. She was even nominated for National Film Award for Best Actress, but eventually lost.

Awards

;Filmfare Awards South
;Kerala State Film Awards
;Asianet Film Awards
Ranjith also worked on a Tamil remake of the film, which was shelved after some pre-production activities, and the movie was remade as Seedan by director Subramaniya Shiva. It was also remade in Telugu as Maa Baapu Bommaki Pellanta by Raviraja Pinisetty and in Kannada as Gokula Krishna.