Punjabi House

Punjabi Houseis a 1998 IndianMalayalam-languagecomedy dramafilm written and directed byRafi Mecartin. It starsDileepandHarisree Ashokanas Unni and Ramanan withMohini,Jomol,Lal,Cochin Haneefa,Thilakan,JanardhananandN. F. Varghesein other pivotal roles. It revolves around Unni, a debt-ridden entrepreneur who attempts suicide by jumping into the sea so that his family can use the insurance money to repay his debts. However, he survives and is rescued by two debt ridden fisherman, who keep him as a servant in the house of a Punjabi family of moneylenders, so that they can repay the sum at a later time.
Development of the script took Rafi-Mecartin almost a year to complete. Rafi-Mecartin's script was based on a real-life incident they had experienced while on a train.Suresh PeterscomposedPunjabi House's soundtrack, in his Malayalam film debut, whileS. P. Venkateshcomposed the score.Anandakuttanwas its cinematographer. M. B. Valsan and K. P. Hariharaputhran and were the film's art director and editor, respectively. Itsprincipal photographywas completed in 55 working days, with 42 days of filming taking place indoors. The film was predominantly filmed inAlappuzha districtinKerala.
Punjabi Housewas released on 25 September 1998 and was a box office success, completing a 150-day run in theatres. It has over the years acquiredcult statusinMalayalam cinemaand is widely celebrated as one of the most popular Malayalam comedy films ever.The film is considered a landmark film in Dileep's career as the success of the film established him as abankable lead actorand was his first step towardssuperstardom. It was also a breakthrough for Harishree Ashokan, whose character of Ramanan has become a popular cinematic figure.It was remade intoTeluguasMaa Balajiin 1999, inKannadawith the same title in 2002 and inHindiasChup Chup Kein 2006.
Unni is an unsuccessful entrepreneur, who is in deep debt and in no situation to repay them. Due to torment from his many creditors and lack of solace from his family, he decides to commit suicide (faking it as an accident) so that his debts can be repaid with the insurance money. He jumps off the pier into the sea only to be rescued by fishermen from a distant coast, named Gangadharan and his employee Ramanan. Unni pretends to be deaf and mute in front of them, so as to not reveal the truth. Back at home, his family is deniedinsurance, stating unconfirmed death (owing to lack of body), putting them in a difficult situation on repaying the debt.
Gangadharan has a debt of his own, to a Punjabi family of moneylenders who are settled in Kerala. The situation demands Unni and Ramanan to work at their home until he can repay the sum. There he meets a Punjabi girl named Pooja, who is mute. She finds out that he is not deaf or mute and considers him to be a fraudster, but later sympathises with him after learning his situation. She pays off hisdebtthrough Ramanan, without revealing to his family about their living son. The couple eventually falls in love and decide to get married. Her family agrees to their marriage on the condition that he will never desert her, as she had a traumatic failed marriage proposition in the past.
From Ramanan, by a slip of the tongue, Unni’s family learns of his survival. They find him and demand him to come back, as Sujatha who was in love with him, still waits for him living as his widow. He is shocked by the news but decides not to return because he does not want to put Pooja through more agony. During the marriage ceremony the next day, the family intervenes, but when Sujatha sees Pooja and the pain that she is going to inflict on her family, she finally decides to let go of him.
Rafi and Mecartininitially got the idea for a story from an incident that happened while on a train journey. They had ordered breakfast on the train. However, since it was spoilt, they had to throw it out. Seeing them throw the food out, a student in a school uniform took the food from the ground. The duo asked him not to take the food and warned him that the food was spoilt. To escape the confrontation, the student started to act dumb and ran away, taking the food with him. After the incident, they started suspecting if the boy had fooled them by acting dumb. Initially they had thought of a situation where a man tries to woo a dumb woman who works in a supermarket by acting dumb, withMohanlalin mind.This was then slowly developed into a story. Development of the script took the duo nine to eleven months to complete.After writing the script, Rafi-Mecartin decided to cast a younger actor for the role.Two climaxes were written for the film, the first one being Unni staying with Pooja and the second one being Unni going with Sujatha. To decide on a climax Rafi-Mecartin narrated both of the climaxes to female members of the crew and asked them to select the climax. The crew voted, and the first climax was chosen.
Jayaramwas initially offered the role of Unni. However, he couldn't take up the role due to prior commitments.In the original script, the main location of the film was the drawing room of the house where the Punjabi families lived. Initially, they rented out an auditorium where they would create a set. However, Rafi-Mecartin wasn't satisfied as the auditorium was smaller than planned. Then, one day they came across a picture in a magazine which featured apandal. This gave them the idea of setting up a pandal instead of a drawing room, as it was more spacious. This led them to make modifications to the script to give a reason as to why a pandal was set up. The film was shot in the pandal for 42 days.
The scene where Unni asks all the debt collectors to come toDharmadam, so that he can repay the debts was not actually shot in Dharmadom, but inAlappuzha. In the scene where Dileep jumps into the water, a dupe was hired fromMadras(nowChennai). Upon reaching the location, Rafi-Mecartin learnt that the dupe was inexperienced. To guarantee the safety of the dupe they asked a few children playing on the beach to look out for the dupe after he jumps. After the dupe jumped, he failed to reach the surface and drowned. However, the children immediately jumped in and saved the dupe.
The score and soundtrack were composed bySuresh PetersandS. P. Venkateshrespectively. The former made his cinematic debut through the album.S. Ramesan Nairwrote the lyrics for all songs. The songs were recorded at Kodandapani Audio Laboratories, and the soundtrack was released under the East Coast Audios label.
Peters had earlier done aTamil-language album titledMinnal. Mecartin had purchased the album when he had visited Chennai. The album impressed him very much and prompted him to meet Peters. This led them to meet atA. V. M studiosand subsequently was hired for their next venture. Mecartin then asked Peters to compose a Malayalam version forMughilenna MazhaiyennafromMinnal. Though hesitant at first, he agreed and was titledEriyunna Karalinte.
The film was planned to release on the festive occasion ofOnam, on 4 September 1998. However, on learning thatFazil's Mammootty-Mohanlal starrerHarikrishnanswas also releasing on the same day for Onam along with six other major releases, Saga Appachan decided to release the film as an Onam continuation release, on 25 September 1998.Since the film was planned to release on Onam, post-production was complete, and the film was ready for release. To protect the film frompiracy, Saga Appachan hid several reels of the film in different places till the release of the film.
Punjabi Housewas released on 25 September 1998. The film opened to a wide audience, with 27 screens across Kerala. It ran for 100-days in 6 theatres.The film concluded its theatrical run with the verdict of "blockbuster". The film thus emerged as the third highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year.
Mecartin has clarified that the film will not have a sequel. He recalled in an interview withKaumudy TV, that a producer had approached him asking for a sequel toPunjabi House,but he declined it. He said that the film ended with a closure for the story.
The movie is hailed as one of the best Malayalam comedy movies ever made. The character of Ramanan, portrayed byHarisree Asokanhas achieved cult status and a huge following over the years, being one of Asokan's most well-known roles. It is considered to be one of the most memorable characters of Malayalam cinema.
Punjabi Housewas remade in different languages :
Punjabi HouseatIMDb