Simhasanam (2012 film)

Simhasanam (transl. Throne) is a 2012 Indian Malayalam-language action film written and directed by Shaji Kailas. The film stars Prithviraj Sukumaran, Siddique and Saikumar.^[1] The music was composed by Ronnie Raphael.

Simhasanam
DVD cover
Directed by	Shaji Kailas
Written by	Shaji Kailas
Produced by	S. Chandrakumar
Starring	Prithviraj Sukumaran Sai Kumar Siddique
Cinematography	Shaji Kumar Vishnu Narayanan Saravanan
Edited by	Don Max
Music by	Ronnie Raphael
Production company	Malavika Productions
Distributed by	Central Pictures
Release date	10 August 2012 (2012-08-10)
Running time	160 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Simhasanam was originally meant to be a remake of the Mohanlal-starrer Naduvazhikal but during scripting, it became different from the original story. It was then loosely adaptated from Mario Puzo's The Godfather.^[2][3][4]

Premise

Chandragiriyil Arjun is a student in Manipal and the son of Chandragiriyil Madhava Menon, a very wealthy landlord in Chandragiri, Thiruvananthapuram. One day, Arjun is called from Manipal and learns about constants struggles between Madhava Menon's enemy Ramadhathan Unni's sons Ramanunni, Bhargavanunni and Krishnanunni who runs a franchise of grocery stores called Annapoorna. Arjun decides to restore order and secretly fight back Ramanunni and his brothers as Madhava Menon doesn't want him to become violent.

Cast

• Prithviraj Sukumaran as Chandragiri Arjun Menon/Arjunan (Achu)
• Sai Kumar as Chandragiri Madhava Menon, Arjun's father
• Siddique as Ramanunni, The main antagonist
• Biju Pappan as Jamal, Madhavan Menon's right hand and foster son
• Devan as Bhargavanunni, Ramanunni's elder brother and secondary antagonist
• Jayakrishnan as Krishnanunni, Ramanunni's younger brother
• Jayan Cherthala as Cheriyappilli Mukundan, Madhava Menon's family arch rival
• Pradeep Chandran as Cheriyappilli Sadanandan
• Thilakan as Bishop
• Vandana Menon as Lakshmi (Lechu)
• Aishwarya Devan as Nanda, Arjun's love interest
• Kunchan as Pisharadi, Madhavamenon's assistant
• V. K. Sreeraman as Kollamkottu Krishna Sharma
• Riyaz Khan as SP Vetrivel Maaran IPS, Madhava Menon's enemy
• Vijayakumar as SP Chandrashekharan IPS, Madhava Menon's family friend
• Manikuttan as Suresh, Arjun's friend
• Rajeev Parameshwar as Lokan, Arjun's Friend
• Vishnupriyan as Govindan, Arjun's friend
• P. Sreekumar as Chief Minister Chacko
• T. P. Madhavan as Issac
• Irshad as Adv. Manilal (Cameo appearance)
• Kollam Ajith as Razool Musthafa
• Shammi Thilakan as V. S. Nair, Customs Officer (Cameo appearance)
• Ramu as Kuruvila Jacob
• Sana as Hemalatha Gundappa
• Kishore as new SP
• Santhosh as Balan, Lechu's uncle
• Nandu Poduval as Khader
• Gayathri
• Geetha Nair
• Rema Devi
• Gayathri Priya

Soundtrack

The music was composed by Ronnie Raphael and the lyrics were penned by Chitoor Gopi.

Track	Song	Singer(s)	Duration
1	"Aandava Muruga"	M. G. Sreekumar	4:40
2	"O Mayo (F)"	Rimi Tomy	5:12
3	"O Mayo (M)"	Vidhu Pradap	5:11
4	"Innente Muttathe"	Sudeep Kumar	4:38
5	"Dharmam Pakarna"	Sudeep Kumar	4:36

Reception

Simhasanam was released on 10 August 2012 and received negative reviews from critics and became a box-office bomb.

The Times of India wrote "Simhasanam flimsily pieces together some of the most celebrated cinematic moments that Malayalam viewers have watched and relished countless times. It is nothing more than a foiled attempt to craft a film with one-liners, prolonged dialogues and action sequences."^[5]

Lensmen criticized the film and wrote "Overall, Simhasanam is an outdated mix of old hit movies. Only die hard Prithviraj fans will find this movie interesting. Simahasanam is not written and directed by Shaji Kailas. It is arranged and organized by him. "^[6] Rediff criticized the film saying that it "is a mixture of the director's hits post-1990s, a patchwork of a story with nothing for the viewer to take back".^[7]

Trivia

Simhasanam is the only film in which Shaji Kailas directed a film with the script written by him, as his previous family background films such as Aaraam Thampuran, Narasimham and Madirasi were from scripts written by Ranjith and Rajesh Jayaraman. This is the first time that Shaji Kailas directed a film with Prithviraj in the lead role. Despite Simhasanam being a disaster, Shaji Kailas and Prithviraj further worked together in two films Kaduva and Kaapa, both released in 2022.