In Harihar Nagar (1990)

Interesting facts

In Harihar Nagar is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language comedy thriller film written and directed by Siddique-Lal. The story of the film, set in the fictional locality of Harihar Nagar, follows four unemployed bachelors and friends: Mahadevan, Govindan Kutty, Appukuttan and Thomas Kutty, who attempts to woo their new neighbour Maya, who is in town to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of her brother Sethumadhavan. It stars Mukesh, Siddique, Jagadish and Ashokan in the lead roles, while Geetha Vijayan, Rizabawa, Kaviyoor Ponnamma and Rekha, with Suresh Gopi and Sai Kumar making cameo appearances. The music was composed by S. Balakrishnan.

Production

After directing the blockbuster Ramji Rao Speaking – which dealt with issues like unemployment and poverty, relevant social factors affecting Kerala of the 1980s, Siddique-Lal chose to set their second film, in a more laid back and fun environment. They decided to make a film that diverted from the usual commercial film that revolved around a hero and a heroine.

Siddique and Lal had developed a story called Kallila Kolangal during their days in Mimics Parade. In the story, there was a character of a professional killer named Honai. The story was eventually developed by Sreenivasan into Nadodikkattu (1987). In the film, the name of the professional killer was changed to Pavanayi. Hence, the name of the antagonist in In Harihar Nagar was taken from the story they had developed.

Since Kuriachan and Khais were in Qatar, they put Fazil in charge of casting. Initially, Siddique and Lal had decided on Mukesh as Mahadevan, Jagadeesh as Appu, Appa Haja as Thomas and Ashokan as Govindan. Since the directors didn't have phones at the time, they sent the executive producer to talk to the actors and book their dates. The executive producer came back and told Siddique-Lal that everyone else except Jagadeesh was ready.

The role of John Honai was originally planned for Raghuvaran, but since he had clashing dates it was eventually given to Kalabhavan's Rizabawa, who was a well-known theatre and mimicry artiste. He had earlier acted as the lead in Shaji Kailas' Dr. Pasupathy. Rizabawa was initially reluctant to do a negative role but was persuaded by his friends at Kalabhavan.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.