Poovalli Induchoodan is sentenced to six years prison life for murdering his classmate. Induchoodan, the only son of Justice Maranchery Karunakara Menon was framed in the case by the state minister, Manapally Madhavan Nambiar and his crony DYSP Sankaranarayanan to take revenge on idealist judge Menon who had earlier given jail sentence to Manapally in a corruption case. So they set a big trap to put Induchoodan behind bars. Induchoodan, who had achieved top rank in Civil Services Examination loses the post and Manapally Sudheeran, Manappally's younger son enters the list of civil service trainees. It is later revealed that Ramakrishnan the son of Mooppil Nair, one among Manappally's top supporters, was the real killer. Six years passes by and Manapally Madhavan Nambiar, now a former state minister, is dead and Induchoodan, who is all rage at the gross injustice meted out to him - thus destroying his promising life, is released from prison. Induchoodan thwarts Manapally Pavithran, Manappally's elder son from performing the funeral rituals of his father at the banks of the Bharathapuzha. Many confrontations between Induchoodan and Manapally's henchmen follow. Justice Menon and his wife return to Kerala to stay with Induchoodan. There is an appearance of a girl named Indulekha, who claims to be the daughter of Justice Menon. Menon flatly refuses the claim and banishes her. Forced by circumstances and at the instigation and help of Manapally Pavithran, she reluctantly come out open with the parentage claim. Induchoodan at first thrashes the protesters. But upon knowing the truth from Chandrabhanu his uncle, he accepts the task of her protection in the capacity as elder brother. Induchoodan decides to marry Indulekha to his good friend Jayakrishnan. Induchoodan confronts his father and prods him to accept mistake and acknowledge the parentage of Indulekha. Menon ultimately regrets and secretly goes on to confess to his daughter. The very next morning when Induchoodan returns to Poovally, Indulekha is found dead and Menon is accused of murdering her. The whole act was planned by Pavithran, who after killing Indulekha, forces Raman Nair to testify against Menon in court. In court, Nandagopal Marar, a close friend of Induchoodan and a supreme court lawyer, appears for Menon and manages to lay bare the murder plot and hidden intentions of other party. Menon is judged innocent of the crime by court. After confronting Pavithran and promising just retribution to the crime of killing Indulekha, Induchoodan returns to his father who now shows remorse for all his actions including not believing in the innocence of his son. But while speaking to Induchoodan, Menon suffers a heart attack and passes away. At Menon's funeral, Manapally Pavithran arrives to poke fun at Induchoodan and he also tries to carry out the postponed last rituals of his own father. Induchoodan interrupts the ritual and avenges for the death of his sister and father by severely injuring Pavithran. On his way back to peaceful life, Induchoodan accepts Anuradha, the strong willed and independent-minded daughter of Mooppil Nair, as his life partner.
Cast
Mohanlal as Poovalli Induchoodan
Aishwarya as Anuradha, the love interest of Induchoodan
Thilakan as Justice Maranchery Karunakara Menon, Induchoodan's father
Kozhikode Narayanan Nair as Manappally Madhavan Nambiar
N. F. Varghese as Manappally Pavithran, the elder son of Nambiar
Saikumar as Manappally Sudheeran IPS, Nambiar's younger son
Kanaka as Indulekha, Menon's illegitimate daughter
Jagathi Sreekumar as Chandrabhanu, Induchoodan's uncle
Bharathi as Induchoodan's mother
Maniyanpilla Raju as CI Habeeb, Induchoodan's friend
V. K. Sreeraman as Venu Master
Kalabhavan Mani as Bharathan, Induchoodan's follower
Vijayakumar as Jayakrishnan, Induchoodan's jail mate friend
Sadiq as Induchoodan's friend
Irshad as Induchoodan's friend
Narendra Prasad as Mooppil Nair, Ramakrishnan and Anuradha's father
E. A. Rajendran as Ramakrishnan
Spadikam George as Kalletti Vasudevan
T. P. Madhavan as Raman Nair, Menon's longtime clerk
The film's original soundtrack includes five songs composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan and a total of eight tracks. Lyrics were by Gireesh Puthenchery. The soundtrack album was released by Satyam Audios. The song "Aarodum Onnum" featuring Mohanlal and Aishwarya is not included in the film's home video version.
Release
Narasimham was released on 26 January 2000 on India's Republic Day. It was re-released on 5 December 2014 in Dubai after 15 years. The re-release was part of a special programme organised under the title Narasimham Returns on the occasion of celebrating the 15th anniversary of the film. It premiered at Golden Cinemas, Dubai. The premiere was attended by the major cast and crew of the film and subsequent screenings was received well by public. Later, it was released in Kerala. In 2016, Narasimham Returns was re-released in seven districts in Kerala. The special screenings was held in Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam, Kannur, Pathanamthitta and Kollam on 26 January 2016.
Box office
The film was released in 32 centres in Kerala. It collected a distributor's share of in 35 days from the state. The film completed 200 days in theatres. Producer's profits were estimated at 100 million. Narasimham generated around 70 million for the distributor's share. At the time, the film was the highest-grossing film in Malayalam cinema. The film also created history for screening with maximum number of additional shows for any Malayalam film, which took 16 years to surpass by Premam. It is one of the highest rated films in the television. The film grossed at the box office against a budget of, making it the highest-grossing Malayalam film ever, at the time. It ran for more than 200 days in theatres.
Mohanlal's punch dialogue in the film, "Nee Po Mone Dinesha" has become an iconic Malayalam catchphrase. The Mundu worn by Mohanlal in this film, popularly known as "Narasimhahm Mundu", became a fashion trend among youngsters. The film includes five songs composed by M. G. Radhakrishnan, of which "Dhaankinakka/Pazhanimala" and Mohanlal's introduction song attained a high level of popularity. The film was the thousandth acting credit of Jagathy Sreekumar.
