Thestory revolves around Manikyan, Sreekrishnan, Karthumpi, and the love triangle between them. Initially, Manikyan and Karthumpi don't get along initially and get into intense arguments. But they fall in love as time goes on. Manikyan works for Sreekrishnan and Sreekrishnan sees him as a brother. Appakkala is a servant of Sreekrishnan and has a rivalry with Manikyan.
Once when they both are returning from a fair after shopping, Sreekrishnan sees Karthumpi and gets attracted. But then a fight erupts there and they all have to flee. Sreekrishnan flees alone, while Manikyan has to take Karthumpi with him. At night, he flees in the opposite direction and so loses his way. Karthumpi knows the way back, but she pretends she does not know it and enjoys the fun. Manikyan has to struggle to get out of that place. Manikyan says a crude word to a shop owner, an old lady and also peeks into a room with a married couple without consent. He is tied to a tree as punishment but then freed as he apologizes. It is Karthumpi who causes Manikyan to land in trouble because he didn't understand what the crude word meant. Karthumpi reveals that she is homeless and that her sister was murdered by a policeman, Mallikettu who is also her brother-in-law. During this time, they develop feelings for each other.
Upon returning to Manikyan's village, Sreekrishnan proposes to her and plans to marry her. Manikyan is unable to resist as Sreekrishnan is like an elder brother to him. But Karthumpi opposes it. When Sreekrishnan gets to know about this via Appakkala, he becomes furious and sees Manikyan as his rival and tries to take revenge. Mallikettu arrives and attacks Sreekrishnan. Manikyan interferes and engages in a duel with the policeman. Manikyan wins the duel. The policeman faints and Manikyan warns him that he would chop his limbs off the next time.
Another day, Appakkala spreads lies that Manikyan murdered Sreekrishnan upon finding his flip-flop and towel in the pond. Manikyan tries to prove his innocence to his father and mother, but they don't believe him. Karthumpi feels sympathetic towards Manikyan. Manikyan runs into Appakala and is furious with Appakkala spreading lies about him. They both engage in a fight. The townsfolk chases Manikyan and Karthumpi through the woods and the water and through a dusty road. Finally, Sreekrishnan appears and everyone stops chasing. Everyone in town realizes that Appakalan has fooled them all. He is punished by making him do sit ups in front of everyone. Sreekrishnan realizes his mistakes and marries the woman who loved him for so long and also reconciles with Manikyan as he unites with Karthumpi.
R. D. Burman was initially signed in as the music composer for the film, as revealed by Burman himself in an interview to journalists in Cochin, during his visit to the city, just a few weeks before his death. But he died before he could complete the compositions of the film and was later replaced by Berny-Ignatius.
Berny-Ignatius was accused for plagiarism for at least three of the songs in the film. The song "Ente Manasinoru Naanam" is said to be an adaptation of the popular Hindi classic "Piya Milanko Jaana", sung by Pankaj Mullick. Another song in the film, "Nila Pongal" is accused to be an imitation of a Bengali song, "Sun Mere Bandhu Re". The "Manam Thelinje vanne" song is a copy of the Ilaiyaraaja song "Aasai Athigam" from the Tamil movie "Marupadiyum". Berny-Ignatius were awarded the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director despite the allegations, which created a controversy. Veteran music director G. Devarajan returned three of the four state awards he had won claiming that the government was honouring pirates in film music.[8]
The film ran for more than 250 days in theatres and was the highest-grossing Malayalam film of the year [9][10] The film is remembered as one of the best comedy films in the history of Malayalam cinema.[11] Film critic Kozhikodan included the film on his list of the 10 best Malayalam movies of all time.[12]
In an unknown location on the Himalayan Nepal, a mystical boy is about to be crowned the Rimpoche of a Buddhist monastery when a gang of sorcerers, led by Vishaka, abduct the child. Vishaka is in service to a mysterious enchantress, who needs to make a human sacrifice of the Rimpoche before the solar eclipse to attain invincibility. The monks expect the advent of a saviour, the man with ears as a weapon, across the Himalayas to rescue the child as they are prophesied. In the meantime, Rimpoche manages to escape through the course and reaches Kathmandu.
At the other end of the subcontinent, in a village in Kerala, Ashokan, a youngster spends his time competing with his cousin, Appukuttan, in a series of games conducted by a sports club. Appukuttan finds himself on the losing side each time, but strongly optimistic of his win, he competes again. Appukuttan feels fooled and heartbroken when he suspects an affair is brewing between Ashokan and his fiance, Dhamayanthi. Ashokan is sent to his uncle Capt. Kuttikrishna Menon a.k.a Kuttimama in Nepal by his mother, Sumathi Amma, after a palm reader predicts that he will commit murder if he stays in Kerala. Unbeknownst to Ashokan, Appukuttan flees to Nepal beforehand and masquerades as Ashokan before their uncle. Ashokan, in turn, is cast out onto the streets, where he meets the boy and forms a bond with him.
Kuttimama's daughter, Aswathi, is a researcher in Nepalese traditions and history. As a payback to Ashokan, Appukuttan attempts to plot his way into marrying her, who in turn is Ashokan's bride-to-be by their custom, but not engaged. Ashokan, with Unnikuttan's (as he calls the boy) assistance, manages to cast doubt into the mind of his uncle about the credibility of Appukuttan's claims and wins over Aswathi's love and trust.
Ashokan and Aswathi witness one of the sorcerers' confederate combatants kidnapping the boy. Upon following him into a forest, they end up confronting Vishaka. In an ensuing fight, Vishaka grievously wounds Aswathi, blinds Ashokan using a substance, and leaves the two to die. Ashokan is rescued by a tribe affiliated with the monks that train warriors tasked with protecting the monastery. Ashokan is discovered as the "chosen one" and is given training in Kung Fu by a master, to overcome his blindness and enhance his hearing skills. At the same time, Appukuttan was also captured by another evil tribe while following the two.
Ashokan, now enlisted as a warrior, infiltrates the sorcerer's location and rescues Unnikuttan from a bewitched sheathe. The boy then, aided by an ailing old monk, restores Ashokan's eyesight. As the solar eclipse nears, the monks begin the coronation ceremony of the boy. Vishaka rushes to the monastery to terminate it. But Ashokan stands in his way and, in a climactic fight, kills him. The boy is crowned as the Rimpoche. Ashokan discovers that Aswathi was indeed saved by tribes and is alive and healthy. Appukuttan returns as Ashokan-esque trained warrior, but before he could stand a chance, he is subdued by Ashokan in a friendly manner.
Siddharth Lama debuted in the film playing Rimpoche. His father Yubaraj Lama also acted in the film as the long-haired henchman, an abductor sent by Puneet Issar's villain character. Cinematographer Santhosh Sivan found Siddharth Lama accidentally, who happened to see him when he visited actor Yubaraj Lama. At the time, they were searching for a suitable child actor to play the role of Rimpoche. Sivan invited "little" Lama to the film, who without hesitation said, yes.[2] While filming, Lama shaved his head at least 20 times for the film. Every three days he had to shave.[3][4]
Ashokan's arrival scene at the Nepal airport was shot at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. The house shown in the film as the residence of Kuttymama in Nepal was originally a hotel named Astoria (it was since then converted into a school). The Swayambhu architecture situated atop a hill in the Kathmandu Valley was a significant filming location. Some of the comedy scenes between Mohanlal and Jagathy Sreekumar were shot on its steps elevating to the Buddha statue. The jacket worn by Mohanlal in the scenes shot in Nepal was an indigenous fashion at the time, called the Butterfly Jacket.[5] Some sequences were filmed inside a cave called the Bat Cave in Pokhara, a tourist attraction.[6] Baring a few scenes shot in Palakkad, the film was completely shot in Nepal.
The film's original songs and background score were composed by A. R. Rahman; the lyrics for the songs were by Bichu Thirumala. Yoddha was the second film of Rahman after Roja (1992). He was working on Roja when he signed Yoddha. Rahman had already attained fame across South India for composing successful jingles for advertisement films and was then known by the name Dileep. Sangeeth decided to experiment with Rahman as the composer and was impressed with Rahman's musical arrangement for a candy commercial he directed. He also liked Rahman's composition of "Chinna Chinna Asai" for Roja, which Rahman showed him while he was in his studio.[7]
The song "Padakaali" is featured in the backdrop of a singing competition between Ashokan and Appukuttan in a temple, with both of them dissing each other with words. The song's situation in the story was briefed to lyricist Thirumala by Sivan while they were in Rahman's Panchathan Record Inn studio in Chennai. After hearing it, Hindu goddess Kali's image was the first thing that came into his mind. He thought that a hymn describing Kali's furious persona would suit the situation. He referred to the book Mahakshetrangalude Munnil by Nalankal Krishna Pillai for reference, from which he got words such as padakali, porkali, chandi, maargini among others, to use in the lyrics. Padakali and chandi are synonyms for goddess Kali. Since it was a comical song, it was not expected to have deep words, though Thirumala was particular that the words should not be meaningless, and most of the words he added were related to religious worship.[8] It is one of the all-time popular songs in Malayalam film music.[9]
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