Manathe Vellitheru

1994 140’ col/scope Malayalam d/s Fazil pc Khais Prod. p Khais lyr Shibu Chakravarthy c Ananthakuttan m Johnson lp Shobhana, Vineeth, Mukesh, Srinivasan, Lalu Alex, Lakshmi

Malayalam star Shobhana plays pop singer Merlin Fernandes whose music combines rustic tradition with modern rhythms to entertain the Malayali diaspora throughout India. Ramesh (Vineeth), a psychotically devoted fan, follows her wherever she goes, investing all his time and his considerable wealth into attempts to seduce her. Desperate to escape her stalker, she marries a wealthy businessman. Ramesh now vows to kill the couple before committing suicide. Eventually, the cop (Mukesh) investigating the situation unearths Ramesh’s tragic psycho-biography, enabling him - with assistance from Merlin and her husband - to cure the stalker of his ‘mother fixation’. The film echoes Yash Chopra’s megahit Darr (1993) with Vineeth doing a credible follow-up to Shah Rukh Khan’s earlier portrayal of Ramesh.

Film