| Ravanaprabhu | |
|---|---|
 100 days success poster | |
| Directed by | Ranjith |
| Written by | Ranjith |
| Produced by | Antony Perumbavoor |
| Starring | Mohanlal Vasundhara Das Siddique Napoleon Innocent Vijayaraghavan Sai Kumar |
| Cinematography | P. Sukumar |
| Edited by | Ranjan Abraham |
| Music by | Music: Suresh Peters Score: C. Rajamani |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Swargachithra |
Release date |
|
Running time | 178 minutes |
| Country | India |
| Language | Malayalam |
| Box office | ₹19.70 crore[1] |
Ravanaprabhu (transl. LordRavana) is a 2001 IndianMalayalam-languageactionfilm written and directed byRanjith in his directorial debut. It is a sequel to the 1993 filmDevaasuram written by Ranjith and directed byI.V. Sasi. The film starsMohanlal in dual roles of Mangalassery Neelakandan and M. N. Karthikeyan, father and son.Napoleon reprises the role of Neelakandan'sarchenemy Mundackal Shekharan. It also featuresVasundhara Das,Siddique,Innocent,Vijayaraghavan, andSai Kumar.Revathi reprises the role of Bhanumathi in acameo appearance. The plot follows M. N. Karthikeyan, Neelakandan's son and his attempts to reclaim their ancestral home Mangalasserytharavadu. The film features original songs composed bySuresh Peters and background score by C. Rajamani.
Ravanaprabhu was released on 31 August 2001 and received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success, grossing over₹15 crores during its theatrical run, making it thehighest-grossing Malayalam movie of 2001. Among itsvarious accolades,Ravanaprabhu won theKerala State Film Awards forBest Film with Popular Appeal and Aesthetic Value andBest Male Playback Singer forK. J. Yesudas.
The story begins with Mangalassery Neelakandan's ('Neelan') son Karthikeyan, as he ventures out to make money - ultimately becoming a wealthy businessman and a liquor baron, while Neelakandan - with the passage of time - is burdened by liabilities and is in dire financial position. The relationship between Neelan and Karthikeyan becomes strained, as Neelan disapproves of his son's money-making methods.
Mundakkal Shekaran Nambiar - now an established industrialist and the owner of a multispeciality hospital - was imprisoned in the past for killing one of Neelan's friends, Kunjananthan, decades ago on Neelan's and Bhanumathi's wedding day. He still carries a grudge against Neelan for severing the former's right-hand years ago. Shekaran decides to ruin the Mangalassery family by taking over the chairmanship of a debt-ridden bank to confiscate the Mangalassery ancestral house (Tharavadu) which ismortgaged to the bank for the educational expenses of Suhara, daughter of one of Neelan's aides, Hydrose.
Bhanumathi seeks treatment at Shekaran's hospital. Even though Dr. Janaki, Shekaran's daughter, offers her the treatment she requires, Shekaran denies her treatment and asks her aides to leave the hospital, but Neelan arrives on time and berates Shekaran. Neelan tries to have her treatee elsewhere, but Bhanumathi passes away in her sleep. Neelan is shattered. Karthikeyan is unable to arrive on time to set fire to his mother's funeral pyre - Neelan performs the funeral rituals of Bhanumathi - and is now bent on taking revenge on Shekaran. He vandalises the hospital as revenge.
Neelan loses his home - as Shekaran, his nephew Rajendran and the board of directors of the Bank decide to attach the Mangalassery House - and Karthikeyan ventures out in an attempt to reclaim the ancestral home – where Bhanumathi was cremated and the urn of her ashes stands on the Mangalassery soil. He tries to acquire the house legally from an auction with the assistance of the state's Home Minister and MLA Sivadasan (Kunjananthan's son and Karthikeyan's childhood friend), but Shekaran and the cunning Rajendran, along with the latter's evil accomplice Maniyampra Purushothaman, acquire it back using a faux concealed tender. As a last resort, Karthikeyan seizes Purushothaman's S ClassMercedes-Benz car and also abducts Janaki in an attempt to blackmail Shekaran, and hides her at the house of his friend, Sakhtivel Gounder, inPollachi. It is during this time that Karthikeyan and Janaki fall in love with each other.
Karthikeyan gets the Mangalassery Tharavadu back when Shekaran strikes a compromise without the knowledge of Rajendran and Janaki's fiancé, Sreenivasan Nambiar IPS. Janaki is subsequently released. As a result of arguments with Sreenivasan about her chastity while being in the custody of Karthikeyan, and her not giving a written statement to the police against him because of her liking towards Karthikeyan, their wedding is called off by Janaki.
Rajendran makes a last attempt to kill Karthikeyan, but instead kills Neelan by lighting him on fire. Rajendran in turn is killed by Neelan after a perfect knife throw, piercing through his throat. Karthikeyan, now infuriated due to his father's murder, goes on to kill Shekaran by burning him. But an elderly Warrier stops him and brings him back. Shekaran realises his mistakes, as well as the influence of the kind Warrier on both Neelan and Karthikeyan (Warrier's intervention prevented Neelan from killing Shekaran decades ago: inDevasuram).
In the end, the urns of Bhanumathi and Neelan are shown; Karthikeyan becomes the head of the Mangalassery house, and Sreenivasan parts ways with Janaki on a happy note. Karthikeyan and Janaki are happily married with everyone's blessings.
† Indicates a deceased character.
| Mundakkal Ramakrishnan Nambiar † | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mangalassery Madhava Menon † | Yasodha † | Unknown | Mampatta Appukutty Nair | Madhavi | Parameswaran † | Bhargavi Nambiar † | Kunjikrishnan Nambiar † | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mangalassery Neelakandan † | Bhanumathi † | Sarada | Achuthan | Mundakkal Shekharan Nambiar | Sreedevi | Lakshmi Nambiar | Krishnan † | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Karthikeyan | Janaki Nambiar | Rajendran Nambiar† | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ravanaprabhu marks the directorial debut ofRanjith and acts as a sequel to the 1993 filmDevaasuram written by Ranjith. The plot follows M. N. Karthikeyan, a new character, the son of Mangalasserry Neelakandan.[2]Vasundhara Das played the female lead role, who debuted in Malayalam with the film. She started by filming the song "Pottukuthedi" which was shot in five days.[3]Kanal Kannan was the action choreographer of the film.[4] The Karthikeyan vs. SP Sreenivasan fight scene featuringMohanlal andSiddique was choreographed byKanal Kannan, who then worked in the film.Ravanaprabhu marks the debut work of Hein inMalayalam cinema.[5]
| Ravanaprabhu | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by | ||||
| Released | 2001 | |||
| Recorded | 2001 | |||
| Genre | soundtrack | |||
| Length | 31:05 | |||
| Label | East Coast Audio | |||
| Producer | Antony Perumbavoor | |||
| Suresh Peters chronology | ||||
| ||||
The film's soundtrack includes five songs composed bySuresh Peters and written byGireesh Puthenchery. "Vandemukunda Hare" was song taken from the prequelDevaasuram originally sung and composed byM. G. Radhakrishnan. The soundtrack album was released by the label East Coast Audio Entertainments.[6] The film'sbackground score was composed by C. Rajamani.
| No. | Title | Singer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Ariyathe Ariyathe" | P. Jayachandran,K. S. Chithra | 5:32 |
| 2. | "Pottukuthedi" | Palakkad Sreeram,Swarnalatha | 4:29 |
| 3. | "Aakashadheepangal Sakshi" | K. J. Yesudas | 4:07 |
| 4. | "Aattoram Azhakoram" | Sujatha Mohan | 4:46 |
| 5. | "Aakashadheepangal Sakshi" | K. S. Chithra | 4:07 |
| 6. | "Vande Mukundahare" | Nikhil | 2:08 |
| 7. | "Ariyathe Ariyathe" | K. S. Chithra | 5:32 |
| 8. | "Thakilu Pukilu" | M. G. Sreekumar,Radhika Thilak, Prabhakaran,Mohanlal | 5:42 |
Ravanaprabhu was released as anOnam festival release on 31 August 2001. A digitally remastered4KDolby Atmos version ofRavanaprabhu was released theatrically on 10 October 2025,[7][8] having a special premiere on 9 October 2025 at Kavitha theatre,Ernakulam.[9]
Ravanaprabhu received generally positive reviews from critics and was a commercial success at box office.[10] The film grossed over₹15 crores during its initial theatrical run,[1] making it thehighest-grossing Malayalam movie of 2001.[11][12] Mohanlal's frequently used punchlineSavari Giri Giri became a popular catchphrase.[13][11]In re-release the film has collected₹70 lakhs in day one,₹1.42 crores in 2 days[14] and₹2.30 in 3 days.[15]
Original release:₹15 crore
2025 Re-release:₹4.70 crore