Aanandham (Eng: Happiness) is a 2001 Tamil language family drama film written and directed by N. Linguswamy and produced by R. B. Choudary. Aanandham features Mammootty in the lead role along with an ensemble supporting cast including Murali, Abbas, Devayani, Rambha, Sneha, Delhi Ganesh and Srividya. Arthur A. Wilson handled cinematography, while S. A. Rajkumar composed Aanandham’s score and soundtrack. Aanandham opened in May 2001 to positive reviews and commercial success, prompting remakes in other Indian regional languages.
Tirupati (Mammootty) owns a provisional store and is the eldest among four brothers and all live together in a home along with their parents Delhi Ganesh and Sri Vidya. Tirupati is widely respected by everyone in the family and was responsible for bringing back their family to a good state after financial troubles a few years back. Tirupati gets married to Bharathi (Devayani) who is a lot more responsible and kind to everyone. Madhavan (Murali) is the second son in the family who assists Tirupati in managing their provisional store. He is innocent and gets married to Renuka (Rambha), relative of him but she is short tempered and picks up quarrel often. Kannan (Abbas) is the third son in the family and he goes to college where he falls for his classmate Viji (Sneha). Viji is the only daughter of a rich arrogant man (Vijayakumar). Surya (Shyam Ganesh) is the youngest son and studies in college.
Renuka feels that only Tirupati is respected by everyone and not her husband Madhavan because Tirupati manages the provisional store while Madhavan just assists him. She keeps insisting Madhavan to start a separate provisional store which he does not accept as that would separate him from his brothers. Vijayakumar gets to know about the love of his daughter Viji with Kannan and warns him to forget her. Kannan gets a job and leaves to Delhi as he does not want to marry Viji against Vijayakumar’s wishes.
One day Renuka begins a quarrel at home saying that Tirupati has a separate savings account in bank and takes money from common account without the knowledge of other family members. Tirupati feels bad hearing this. Suddenly Renuka and Madhavan’s daughter faints and is rushed to hospital. It is revealed that the child was suffering from a serious disease which only Tirupati knew before and he was saving money to meet out the medical expenses without informing others as others will worry if they get to know about the child’s disease. Renuka realizes her mistake knowing this and apologizes to Tirupati for her harsh behaviour towards him and Bharathi. Later they start an own rice mill. Tirupati gets to know about Kannan’s love towards Viji and he goes to meet Vijiayakumar with a marriage proposal. Vijayakumar agrees for wedding but on a condition that Kannan should stay along with his daughter in his home only as he does not want to send his daughter to another home after wedding. Tirupati agrees to the condition but does not inform this to Kannan as he will not agree for this. On the day of marriage, Kannan gets to know about the condition of him to stay in Vijayakumar’s home and cancels the wedding and comes back to his home to meet his family members. Following him Viji also comes asking him to marry her against her father’s wishes.
But Tirupati convinces the couple saying that if the two get married without Vijayakumar’s permission then it will be a big blow to Vijayakumar’s status in the society and we should not be the reason behind that. He also convinces Viji to leave to her home immediately before anyone could come to know about this. When they step out of the home, they see Vijayakumar with a group of men to attack Tirupati’s family. But he has overheard Tirupati’s conversation with Viji and realizes his good nature and agrees for their wedding. Finally Kannan and Viji get married happily and Viji lives along with everyone in a joint family in Tirupati’s home.
Directed by N. Linguswamy
Produced by R. B. Choudary
Written by Brinda Sarathy (Dialogues)
Screenplay by N. Linguswamy
Story by N. Linguswamy
Starring Mammootty, Murali, Abbas, Devayani, Rambha, Sneha
Music by S. A. Rajkumar
Cinematography Arthur A. Wilson
Edited by V. Jaishanker
Production Super Good Films
Distributed by Super Good Films
Release date 25 May 2001
Country India
Language Tamil
Visitor Rating: 2 Stars