Worst Hero Character in Malayalam Cinema - Meleparambil Aanveedu Film Review

“Meleparambil Aanveedu” is a hugely popular movie from the 90s, and is still considered “one of the best comedy films” in Malayalam cinema. However, I have always found this movie to be cringe-worthy, particularly because of the unbelievably degrading treatment the heroine suffers at the hands of her “loving” husband. To this day, I’m surprised when women tell me how much they love this film. 

The movie features an unbelievably cowardly “hero”, who I believe is possibly the worst hero character I have ever seen in a Malayalam film. Most people just see the movie, laugh at the jokes and don’t think too much about the message it conveys. However, movies are very powerful in the way they start conversations about issues prevalent in our society. 

So I’m sharing my thoughts about “Meleparambil Aanveedu”, which I feel is pure misogyny disguised as a family entertainer, brought to audiences by director Rajasenan and the screenplay to this disgusting story is written by Raghunath Paleri (I had to Google this info, but “credit” has to be given to those responsible for this “gem”).

Synopsis of “Meleparambil Aanveedu” from my perspective (**spoilers ahead**)

Jayaram plays the lovable hero, who I will henceforth refer to as “Mr. Wonderful”, because, he, of course, couldn’t be any more “wonderfuller”.

So, Mr. Wonderful meets and falls in love with the leading lady, Shobana, when he is stationed in Tamil Nadu for work, and ends up having to marry her suddenly due to some special circumstances.

The “brave” hero’s spine that remained erect when he was marrying his lover, disappears when he has to bring her home, and his knees shake at the thought of the wrath he would incur at the hands of his family, for having gotten married without their knowledge.

And, as heroes often do, instead of growing a new spine or a pair of you-know-whats, Mr. Wonderful comes up with the perfect cowardly plan - he will bring his newly wed wife into his family as - wait for it - drumroll please - a MAID!!! And not just a pretend maid, but an actual one, that lives in the servant room of his house and does all the household chores, and not even for a day or two, but at least a few months based on the storyline of the movie.

Now comes my favorite part - that truly earned our hero, the title, "Mr. Wonderful". He sneaks the maid, er, wife, into the “eruthil” (cow shed) to consummate their marriage!! And of course, wonderful heroes cannot be bothered to think about insignificant matters like birth-control.

Lo and behold, the maid is pregnant!! This discovery comes at the worst possible time, when Mr. Wonderful is away on a business trip. 

The hero’s mother puts the maid-wife through hell to get her to tell which of the men in the family is the father of her child. The scriptwriter, Raghunath Paleri, nauseatingly points fingers at Mr. Wonderful’s brothers and even his father as possible culprits, after having depicted the brothers hitting on the maid ever since she stepped foot in the house. This situation contributes to some of the “funniest” lines in the film, like Jagathy’s famous dialogue - “Ente garbham inganalla” (this is not how my pregnancy is).

Shobhana convincingly plays the Kulasthree-esque maid-wife, who never complains about how degrading it is that her husband has asked her to pretend to be a maid in his home, happily does all the household chores, and refuses to state the truth even when Mr. Wonderful’s family question her character following the pregnancy discovery. Her entire role in Meleparambil Aanveedu is being happy and elated whenever her “husband” sneaks in to see her, or crying silently whenever the hero’s parents ask who the father of her child is.

Mr. Wonderful finally returns from his business trip, but Rajasenan (the director) hasn’t had enough “comedy”, so even after finding out about the pregnancy of his wife, the spineless “hero” refuses to “be a man” and lets his family continue to question the paternity of his wife’s child, right in front of him!! Oh, my God, can this man be any more of a coward?!! The torture continues….

The hero tells his mother that he will take the “dishonorable maid” back to her village, but the mother tells him that she has already sent word to the maid’s relatives. In true 90s Malayalam film fashion, some bad guys show up and try to kidnap the heroine, which leads to a big fight, at the end of which the hero hugs his “wife”, and his family members see it. 

Finally, Mr. Wonderful decides that his you-know-whats are now big enough for him to reveal to his family that the maid is his wife, now that the truth has come out by accident. 

What a “wonderful” “comedy” movie!!

What does it say about our society that this nauseating display of misogyny was so successful?

A film becomes successful when the audience accepts it, and just like I have given “credit” to Rajasenan for making this movie, I also have to give “credit” to the underlying sexist and patriarchal values deeply etched into our society for making this a hit, still continuing to be celebrated by Malayali audiences.

The fact that this spineless character who lets his wife be questioned about the paternity of his child in front of him, and chooses to remain silent, is celebrated as a "lovable hero" points to the fact that there is something that needs to change in the way the Malayali society thinks. I will consider that my purpose behind writing this blog post is successful even if a single person starts looking at this film and this cowardly hero as despicable instead of applause-worthy.