Dhruvam : A blockbuster multi-starrer

‘Dhruvam’, directed by Joshiy, one of the most senior filmmakers in Mollywood, can be termed as the first modern multi-starrer in Malayalam cinema. The film was one of the highest grossing films of the 90’s. It had stellar star cast that includes Mammootty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Vikram (he was not a star back then), Gauthami and many others. The movie’s supporting actors includes Tiger Prabhakar, P K Abraham, T G Ravi, Janardhanan, Shammy Thilakan, Santhosh, Appa Haja, Kollam Thulasi, Babu Namboothiri, Vijaya Raghavan, MS Tripunithura etc.

The movie’s screenplay was jointly written by AK Sajan and SN Swamy. The superhit songs in this film were composed by S P Venkatesh and the lyrics were penned by Shibu Chakravathy and M D Rajendran. Dinesh Babu cranked the camera and editing was handled by K Sankunny, a very popular editor of that time. The film was produced by M Mani and was released on 17 January 1993.

The movie was made on a big budget and it rightly emerged as one of the biggest hits of that year. It is about the revenge story of Narasimha Mannadiyar, played to T by Mammootty. He wants to avenge for his brother’s murder. Jayaram played the role of Narasimhan’s brother Veerasimhan Mannadiyar. Haider Marakkar, a notorious criminal played by Tiger Prabhakar, kills Narasimhan. Mannadiyar takes his revenge on Hyder Marakkar with the help of police officer Jose Nariman, played by Suresh Gopi. Vikram played the role of Bhadran, Mannadiyar’s loyal aid.

SP Venkatesh’s background score in the movie was much appreciated. Dhuravam was S N Swamy’s second script for Joshiy, their first collaboration was for the superhit movie Naaduvazhikal starring Mohanlal in the lead.