In Harihar Nagar is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language comedythriller movie written and directed by Siddique-Lal. It stars Mukesh, Siddique, Jagadish and Ashokan as four, happy-go-lucky, best friends competing to woo their new neighbor. The film's music was composed by S. Balakrishnan. The movie was a commercial success at the box office. It has been recognised as one of the iconic comedy movies in the Malayalam cinema. The film has spawned two sequels—2 Harihar Nagar and In Ghost House Inn, both directed by Lal. In Harihar Nagar was remade twice in Hindi as Parda Hai Parda and Dhol, in Kannada as Nagaradalli Nayakaru, in Tamil as MGR Nagaril, and in Telugu as Madhuranagarilo.
Plot
Mahadevan, Govindan Kutty, Appukuttan, and Thomas Kutty are four young men who live in a housing colony named "Harihar Nagar". The movie starts with an incident that takes place in Bombay, where burglar John Honai breaks into a house to look for a briefcase. In the next scene, four young men appear and use their wits to impress young neighbourhood girls. Maya, a local girl, and her grandparents relocate to Harihar Nagar, and happen to be Mahadevan's new neighbours. The four men try to win Maya over on many occasions. One day, they bribe the postman to get hold of the letter she sent. They learn that Maya has come to Harihar Nagar to learn about the death of her brother, Sethu Madhavan. Maya visits a friend of her brother's, Andrew at his home. She asks Ammachi, Andrew's mother, to contact her if she gets any information about her brother. The four men approach Andrew and pretend to be Sethu's friends. They manage to get Sethu's photograph by telling him they wanted it for the colony's sports club. Maya gets this information from Ammachi and meets the four young men. She believes them to be Sethu's friends after seeing his photo at their house. The four fabricate a story about how Sethu had an affair with a girl. Hearing that the four men are friends of Sethu, the burglar kidnaps them to retrieve the briefcase. Maya, in search of her brother's former lover, learns of Annie Philip, a friend of her brother's whom he knew from the library. Annie is now a nun in a convent, and has adopted the name Sister Josephine. Josephine reveals her history with Sethu after Maya questions her: she tells her that Andrew's father was a businessman who was murdered by John Honai's father, who had built a business empire with the money taken from Andrew's father. Andrew sought to cause trouble in the business to take revenge. Honai's father sold all of his assets and tried to run away with the money in the briefcase, but was murdered by Andrew on the way. Later, Andrew is seen dead on a beach. After returning to Bombay, Sethu gives Honai a briefcase similar to the one given to Annie; when Honai opens it, he finds it is full of bricks. Furious, he murdered Sethu. The four young men who were kidnapped by Honai manage to escape, but are chased by him and his associates. Maya and her grandparents are also kidnapped by Honai but the four young men rescue them. Ammachi finds out about Andrew's death from Sister Josephine, who gives her the briefcase. While Ammachi is cooking dinner, Honai comes to her house to get the briefcase. Ammachi removes a fuse and the lights go out. After trying to find Ammachi, Honai unknowingly lights a lighter near the lit gas stove and he quickly burns to death. In the end, Maya and her grandparents are shown moving out. Maya gives the four young men the briefcase, which they open, finding it full of riches.
The soundtrack features two songs composed by S. Balakrishnan, with lyrics penned by Bichu Thirumala. The songs were remixed and used by Alex Paul for 2 Harihar Nagar, the first sequel of this film.
Nineteen years after the release of the original, In Harihar Nagar had a sequel 2 Harihar Nagar directed by Lal of the director-duo Siddique-Lal. It was released on April 1, 2009. After its success, its sequel, named In Ghost House Inn, was released on March 25, 2010.
Remakes
Another Tamil version of the film, titled Idhu MGR Illam, was under production.
