Tamil Movie Review Papanasam - Cast & Crew

Baby Esther, is an actress in Indian cinema who had shot to fame with her child role and even as promising youngster star too. 

Esther Anil got her first break in Ali John’s 2010 Malayalam Film ‘Nallavan’, where she played the role of childhood of Mythili. Later, she became popular with 2013 success movie Drishyam, where she acted the role of daughter of Mohanlal and Meena. 

With immense talent, she is going to make her place in the industry. Many of us have watched her in suspense thriller Cocktail wherein she played the title role of Susan, the ins-screen daughter of of Anoop Menon and Samrutha Sunil. She also acted as a child star in a film ‘Orunal Varum’ alongside Mohanlal and Sameera Reddy. She then made her presence felt in another movie where audiences have seen her playing the little girl enacting the childhood of Urvashi in a film titled Sakudumbam Shyamala. She got floods of offer as a child artiste now. In the same year (2013), she got a chance to act with the megastar Mammootty in a movie titled, ‘Kunjandente Kada’. For the Telugu version of ‘Drushyam’, she acted as daughter of Venkatesh and Meena (2014) and for Tamil version, she acted as a daughter of Kamal Haasan and Gautami, which was titled as ‘Papanasam’(2015). 

The promising child artiste has acted nearly 20 films to her credit, which is indeed a milestone in her career, which might give her recognition to go ahead with heroine roles later on. 

She is the daughter of Anil Abraham and Manju Anil, She has two brothers who are studying now in school. She never thought that she would be in cinema, but now feels proud to be around many veteran stars like Mammootty, Mohanlal, Dileep, Anoop and others. Well, she is a bright shinning star now in Mollywood.

A young, pretty actress Niveda Thomas is a popular face in Malayalam and Tamil audience. Every viewer remembers her as the chirpy child they used to see in their television screens. She has grown with the television and movie industry from her childhood. The 19-year-old actress was born to Malayali parents in Kannur on 15th October 1995. She first appeared in the movie Uthara, as a child artist in 2003. Before coming to movies, she appeared in Tamil serials, her debut being Rajarajeshwari in 2001. She essayed the role of Nallamma, a child goddess in physical form helping and guiding the Main lead actress. She did minor roles in movies and serials after that.  My dear Bhootham, a children's serial, marked her entry into Malayalam television in 2007.

Shanthi Williams is an Indian actress who is popular in the Tamil and Malayalam film and television industry. She was born to Malayali parents in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, in India. She initiated her career as a child artist when she was just 12 years old. She did supporting and second heroine roles in movies and serials. She was known for her character as a customary mother in the popular Tamil drama serial Metti Oli. Shanthi was awarded the Best Actress in a Negative Role for her performance in S. Kumaran’s Tamil Serial, Thendral. Veteran Director K. Balachander gave the award for her role as the mother of Tamizh (played by Deepak Dinkar). She also got her fame after doing the role of Angayarkanni on Sun TV’s Vani Rani. She played Vani and Rani’s mother-in-law. Shanthi was married to Malayalam cameraman J. Williams in 1979. But the latter passed away in 2005. The couple has four children.

Gautami Tadimalla is an actress who had a lot of competitors like Amala, Revathi, Shobana, or Khushboo, but yet this actress made her identity of her own in Tamil cinema. She was born in West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh) on 2nd July 1968. She was not beautiful or pretty in the traditional way, but she was indeed cute in many of her roles that she played with innocent looks. She had a good chemistry with all superstars of Tamil cinema like Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth.

Malavika is a well-known singer in the Telugu film industry. She was born to Ganesan and Savitri on July 6th, 1988 in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. She sang her first movie song Nuvvu Nenu Kalisunte of the Gangotri movie.

Asha Sarath, famous for her role in 'Kumkumapoovu', is a Malayalam serial actress hails from Perumbavoor, Ernakulam. She was born in Perumbavoor as a daughter of famous classical dancer Smt. Kalamandalam Sumathy. At a very young age, Asha was bought into the field of classical dance by her parents. She got trained in all forms of classical dance including: Mohiniyattam, Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam as well. In college days, Asha always used to get prizes for her performances on classical dance. In 1992, she got first prize in All India Dance Fete held in Benares. She is married to Sarath a business entrepreneur in Dubai.

Jeethu Joseph is a Malayalam film screenwriter and director. He was born on 10th November 1972 in a politically based family where his father was an MLA of’ Muvattupuzha’. He always wanted to be in entertainment, but his father forced him to become an engineer. He later joined Nirmala College in Muvattupuzha to study economics. Jeethu began his career under the director ‘Jayaraj’ as an assistant. He worked under him for the Malayalam film ‘Bheebhatsam’.

Suresh Balaje is a film producer who produces Indian movies in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. He has also produced a few French films. He is known for movies like Megham, Niyaman, Makkal En Pakkam, Gandharvam, 13 B, Dheepan and several others. He is also known as Suresh Balaji.

Sujith Vasudev is one of the most renowned names in the field of cinematography and is known for his works in Malayalam and Tamil movies such as City of God, Molly Aunty Rocks, Papanasam, Amar Akbar Anthony, among many others. Sujith Vasudev was born in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala and is an ardent fan of the works of legends such as M. T. Vasudev Nair, Cherukadu, and Valsala. Vasudev has also publicly stated his desire to work with A. R. Rahman, and is a staunch follower of artists such as Zakir Hussain, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, and M. S. Subbulakshmi. Vasudev, in an interview, said that he was inspired by movies such as Shakespeare in Love, The Cow, The Duelist, and “Amelie,” among many others. Vasudev started his career in cinema as a cinematographer in 2009 with the Sunil Madhav-directed “Nayanam,” followed by Sanjeevan’s “Chekavar.” But it was in 2010 that Vasudev got noticed for his works in the Prithviraj and Indrajith starrer “City of God.” The film was written by Babu Janardhanan, and also featured Swetha Menon, Rima Kallingal, and Rajeev Pillai, among many others.

Jack Blume is a Television and Film Composer, Orchestrator, and also a Producer at Movie Music London. He works on arrangements for internationally touring stage shows and has scored many pieces of music for commercial short films and Television pilots for almost six years now. Currently, he lives in Central London.

Na. Muthukumar is a poet, lyricist, writer and novelist, who writes in Tamil. He is famous for writing scripts and songs for Tamil films. Na. Muthukumar was born on 12 July 1975 in a small village named ‘Tirur’ near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. His Father, Mr Nagaraj was a Tamil teacher.Mr Nagaraj always maintained a collection of 5000 books throughout his life, and after he had passed away, this collection was preserved by his son in his office. Also, his mother passed away when he was merely four years old. Muthukumar reminisces that he acquired most of the knowledge of his life from his father’s book collection. Also, to help others he has plans to open a library where everybody could access those books. Na. Muthukumar began his career with a dream to be a director. So, he started working under director Balu Mahendra for about four years as assistant director. But due to turn of events, he landed into being a lyricist. He began with writing the lyrics for the Tamil movie ‘Veera Nadai’ which was directed by Seeman.

Hariharan is a renowned Indian singer, who sings mainly for Hindi and Tamil films. Born in 1955, he is a well-known Ghazal singer. He was also instrumental in bringing fusion music to India. 

Colonial Cousins is the name given to Hariharan’s band, wherein he collaborated with Lesle Lewis. This band was featured in many private albums. Not only this, they have also composed music for a few movies in Hindi and Tamil. 

Hariharan is born and brought up in Mumbai and he is well-versed in Tamil, Malayalam, English and Hindi. Hariharan is the offspring of famous Carnatic vocalists H.A.S. Mani and Shrimati Alamelu. Hariharan inherited the music skills from his mother. Hindustani music was made known to him in his youth. Hariharan indeed, took great efforts to reach the position that he is in today; he used to practice singing for 13 hours. 

During the initial stages of his career Hariharan used to sing for television serials. After winning a prize in a competition at all India level Hariharan was offered to sing in the film “Gaman” by late music composer Jaidev. The song “Ajeeb Sa Neha Mujh Par Guzar Gaya Yaaron" from the film earned him recognition that he rightly deserved. 

The song “Thamizha Thamizha” from the movie Roja was an instant hit and Hariharan, who sung it was awarded the “Best Male Playback Singer” in the Tamil Nadu State Government Film Awards. 

Hariharan was introduced into the Tamil film industry by A R Rahman, who was also a newbie at that time. Since then, the duo created magic with soul stirring songs in films, including Minsara Kanavu, Jeans, Indian, Muthu, Taal, Mudhalvan, Iruvar, Indira, Rangeela, Alaipayuthey, Kannathil MuthamIttal, Sivaji etc. Hariharan is credited with the Padma Shri Award and has received National awards for a couple of times. Hariharan is the proud singer of around 700 songs. He had also sung in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali and Marathi.

Sunder Narayana Rao was born on 30th January and was bought up in Tamil Nadu, India. He is a singer by profession. He started his career in the year 2013. His genres are Indian, Afghani, Pakistani classical music, Thumri, Sufi, Tappa, Natya Sangeet, Qawwali, etc. He was put into the field of music at a very small age by his family.

Ayoob Khan is an upcoming Indian film editor who is known for his contribution to Keralite cinema universe. As per his Facebook profile, he has mentioned Kayakulam as his hometown. Ayoob completed his schooling at VHSS Chathiyara, Sooranad, and passed out from the school in 2001. In future, he would go on to take admission in Bishop Moore College, Mavelikara, Alleppy district in the year 2006. Having been involved in low-profile videos and documentaries, he has Sir Laddu and Valkittentha Paripadi to his credit. Sir Laddu is an online comedy directed by Siddique and edited by Ayoob.

Nikkil Murugan is one of the leading PROs in the Tamil film industry. He has been the PRO for legends including Rajinikanth and Kamal haasan. He was acclaimed as the best communication man by India Today. Nikil, as he is also called, has also taken the role of media manager of Kamal Haasan for several years. The wide coverage of Kollywood movies throughout the world is done by him. He is also closely associated with music director A R Rahman. Nikkil Murugan is regarded as very media friendly. He believes in the efficient application of technology for his PR communications. He has been associated with more than 200 movies. Born on 1967, Nikkil Murugan also had close association with ace directors Shankar and Maniratnam. He can communicate in over 5 languages.

Kamal Haasan is the most versatile actor that India had ever witnessed. His innovative performances have been acclaimed worldwide. He is known for his passion for dance forms, action, and his enthusiasm for new concepts in movies. He is one of the most unforgettable actors in India. Born in 1954, Kamal Haasan has a never ending passion for Indian Cinema. He is still acting in movies. Though he belongs to Kollywood Industry his movies are much appreciated in Bollywood and Tollywood as well.

Anant Mahadaven is one of the oldest and most experienced Television and movie actors in the industry. He started his three decade long career way back in 1980’s and has been very active since then in both movies and on television. Anant Mahadevan was born and bought up in Kerala, India. Anant started his career playing small time roles in movies where his acting was much appreciated every time he shared a space on silver screen. Just after spending some time in the industry he made a very good name for himself and was rated one of the best supporting actors of his era.

Delhi Ganesh is one of the veteran Tamil actors, born on August 1, 1944. He worked in Food Corporation of India (FCI) between 1964 and 1974. Because of his interest towards films, he dropped his job. He is a Delhi drama group member of Dakshina Bharata Nataka Sabha (DBNS) and the reason why he is called as, Delhi Ganesh. He was presented by Mr. K. Balachander (1976- Pattana Pravesham). In a span of three decades, he completed more than 400 films. Mostly he portrays supporting roles like, father or comedian and a notable villain thing in the film Apporva Sagodharargal.
He has a son named, Shyam Ganesh. Delhi Ganesh appeared in more than 400 movies and 16 TV serials. His notable serial includes, Marmadesam, a thriller-drama TV series in Tamil and Veettukku Veedu Lootty. He also appeared in advertisements for TVS 50, the Popular Appalam and Roobini Oil and also appeared in a supporting character in Chennai Express.
He got the Tamil Nadu State Government Best Actor award for his performance in PASI in 1979. He also received various state awards like Kalaimamani award given by Minister J. Jeyalalitha.
He also established his skill as dubbing artist for Vishnuvardhan (Mazhalai Pattalam) and Chiranjeevi (47 Naatkal) films.
Delhi Ganesh also appeared in TV serials Kasthuri from Sun TV, Porantha Veeda Pugantha Veeda, Pallankuzhi, Vasantham, Manaivi, Enge Brahmanan, Chellamae, Ippadikku Thendral, Thirupaavai, Manithargal, Dinesh Ganesh, Aahaa, Thennilavu, and Sondha Bandham.
Some of his notable film appearances are from Sindhu Bhairavi, Nayagan, Michael Madana Kama Rajan, Aahaa, and Dus.

Ilavarasu is the cinematographer turned actor in Tamil cinema. He was born in the year 1964 in Melur in Madurai. His original name was Ilavarasan and his cinema friends called him Ilavarasu and the name stayed with him, till now. He was popular as a cinematographer in the year 1996, with the film Panchalankurichi with Prabhu and Madhubala in the lead. In 1997, he was offered with another Prabhu movie named Periya Thambi, which was directed by Chithra Lakshmanan, who is the popular producer and character artist now.

Kalabhavan Mani is a renowned Indian playback singer, music director and film actor. He was born as Mani Raman on January 1, 1971, in Chalakudy, Kerala in India. Initially, he worked as a mimicry artist in Kochi before he started his acting career in the Malayalam film, Aksharam in 1995 as an Auto Rickshaw driver. 

Nellai Siva is a famous comedian and a supporting actor who predominantly works in Kollywood cinemas. He works mostly in comedy scenes. One of the outstanding comedy scenes with comedian Vadivelu is in the movie Kannum Kannum. In 2000 he played in Vetri Kodi Kattu as a tea shop owner. After this movie, he slowly progressed by acting in big movies like Saamy, which had actor Vikram in the lead, Anbe Sivam with Kamal Haasan in the lead, Thirupaachi with Vijay and Kireedam with actor Ajith Kumar in the lead.

Naturally, veteran actor Mohanlal, who is the father of Pranav Mohanlal, is the inspiration for Pranav to enter film industry. Pranav in fact treats his father as his role model, both in reel and real life. Born on 13 July 1990, Pranav hails from Thiruvananthapuram district. Pranav was born in a well-to-do family and had the right amount of inspiration. Having done his schooling in Ooty, he was good at studies and arts both in college and school days. He did his higher studies in University of New South Wales, located in Australia. Pranav learnt the nuances of acting from his family itself. The year 2002 saw him enter the film industry. Onnaman was his debut venture which had his father Mohanlal playing main role. Here, Pranav was just seen in a special appearance. Punarjani is a film which fetched Pranav several accolades.

Pranav received the Best Child Artist Award from Kerala State Film Award for his outstanding performance in this film. Pranav is thankful to his superstar father for helping him attain such recognition. This flick was also released in 2002. After donning the role of a child artist he was keenly concentrating on studies. After a sabbatical, Pranav returned with a bang to the industry with the film Sagar Alias Jacky Reloaded. This film had many stars including his father. The performance of Pranav was well received in this film.

Recently, Pranav worked as an assistant director to Jeetu Joseph (in the initial schedule) in the Tamil flick Papanasam (remake of Malayalam superhit Drishyam). Pranav was quite happy to be associated with the legendary actor Kamal Haasan in Papanasam. Papanasam proved to be a hit in Tamil too. Film knowledge is in the genes for this talented artist and let’s hope that he proves successful in whatever department of film making he selects.

Mohanlal Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Roshan Basheer is the son of renowned actor Kalanthan Basheer.He was born in the year 1990 to this well to do Muslim family.He used to be a child artist in his adolescence age. Roshan completed his degree in ‘BSc Computer Science’ from Cochin's MG University and had planned to go for MBA Degree. Rohan is a vivid reader as well and was spotted more than once in the Jaipur Literary Festival.

Sree Ram is born on 1 May 1996. His age is 20 years. He has worked in various movies like Kattradhu Thamizh in 2007, Pasanga as Jeeva Nithyanandham in 2009, Theeradha Vilaiyattu Pillai as Young Kartik in 2010, Venghai as Young Selvam in 2011, Markandeyan in 2011, Vandhaan Vendraan as Young Ramana in 2011, Goli Soda as Saettu in 2014, Vajram as Madurai in 2015, Kamara Kattu as Ravi in 2015, Papanasam as Cheramadurai in 2015, Paisa in 2016 and Sagar. Sree Raam is an Indian film actor renowned in the entire Tamil film Industry for his performance as a Debutante in Kattradhu in 2007 in which he appeared as a child actor. His father Ram Shiva gave photos of two of his sons in the film industry. Sree Raam was the elder one, and Arjun Raam was the younger one.

Vaiyapuri is a popular Tamil comedy actor. He was born and brought up in Theni. He came to Chennai in the year 1986 to seek some opportunities to act in the movies. He made his debut through the movie Chellakannu, in which he acted as a barber in an uncredited role. Then he was given a minor role in Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Hassan’s movie Avvai Shanmugi. His career picked up in the year 1997 through the movie Kadhalukku Mariyadhai. He was also appreciated for his role in Kaadhalae Nimmadhi, as a blind person. Gradually his film count got increased and he started to do a dozen films per year.

Charle was born in Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu, India and his real name was Manohar Velmurugan Thangasamy. He is an Indian actor who has worked in almost 600 Tamil movies. Charle finished his graduation in chemistry from G. V. N. College situated in Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu. From his college days, he had the habit to mimic and imitate the Tamil actors like Sivaji, Nagesh. He was a stage artist and a complete entertainer from his college times. He first worked as a Staff Artist actor in the song and drama division of the Information and Broadcasting ministry and performed in around 10000 dramas. He debuted in the movie "Poikal Kuthirai" in 1982.

Arul Doss is a popular cinematographer cum actor in Tamil cinema. He was born and brought up in Madurai. In his young age, he was very much interested in photography. He completed his schooling and then started to take photos at weddings. Slowly, he got interested in Videography and started to shoot marriage videos. As he has got many friends, he started to seek chances in cinemas. He thanks his friends, as he got a good opportunity in the cinema through his friends. He made his debut as an assistant cinematographer in the movie Arunachalam, which has Tamil Super Star Rajini Kanth in the lead. His debut movie as an actor is through the Karthi starrer Naan Mahan Alla. He got the chance through the director Suseendran. He got a good reach between the audiences. Later, he acted in the comedy movie with Vijay Sethupathi, Ashok Selvan and Bobby Simha in Soothu Kavvum. Soodhu Kavvum is one among his best characters, and he did a good comedy role in that movie.

The duo executive producers George Pius Tharayil and Suresh Balaje established a film production company ‘Wide Angle Creations‘ at Chennai and had an overall control on every aspect of a film's production right from scripting to the censoring of the project. Suresh Balaje is the son of film producer and actor K. Balaji.

Ghibran is a Music composer in Indian film industry. As one among his experiences, initially, he worked as the composer for ad-films where he was the main composer for more than 800 television commercial jingles covering various languages. After that, he shifted his career towards music composing in Indian Films. From Trinity College London he completed his Grade 8 in Music Theory and Piano. From LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore he obtained the degree in Classical music composition and film scoring under the guidance of Lindsay Vickery from Australia. He has his studio situated at Chennai. Ghibran was born in Coimbatore. He cultivated his interests in music at the age of ten by seeing the performance of Yanni on Television. Initially, he just went to learn Keyboard as a part time from Paul Augustine. After completing the eighth grade there, one of the studios offered him a job to compose for their animations. He got the experience there for two years.

Jeyamohan, also known as B. Jeyamohan was born on the 22nd April of 1962 in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. He is an acclaimed writer and a literary critic in the South Indian film Industry. He is best known for Vishnupuram, a fantasy film set in the backdrop of Indian Mythology and Philosophy. He later started the adaptation of Mahabharatha in the modern form. His novels include Thodarum Nizhalin Kural, Rubber, Kaadu, Kanyakumari, Kotrvai, Eazhaam Ulagam and Pani Manithan. His works have been mostly influenced by humanitarian thinkers M K Gandhi and Tolstoy. Jeyamohan can interpret and re-examine the essence of India’s classic traditions and rich literary due to his experience in traveling around the world. Jeyamohan has to credit till now ten volumes of short plays, nine novels, five biographies, thirteen literary criticisms, three volumes on Christian and Hindu philosophy and, six introductions to western and Indian Literature. He has written screenplays for three Tamil and Malayalam movies. He is at ease with both Tamil and Malayalam, which he owes to his upbringing in the district of Kanyakumari. The Malayalam Film, Ozhimuri penned by him was based on the lifestyle of Nair families in Kanyakumari. It had won him much acclaim in the cinema world. Jeyamohan was born to Vishalakshi and Bahuleyan Pillai in Arumanai, Tamil Nadu. His mother hailed from an intellectual family, on the other hand his father was a clerk in a registrar office. Jeyamohan lived with his parents. His first publication was released during his schooldays, and it was in a children’s magazine, Ratnabala.

M. S. Bhaskar is an Indian actor, born on Jan 19, 1952, and hailed from Muthupettai, Tiruvavur District, Tamil Nadu, India. He used to be a theater artist and performed as a comedian in Tamil TV series and films. His method of acting is simple and is getting professional by the day. He became famous for playing as Pattabi in the TV serial, Chinna Papa Periya Papa and Selvi; and as Vakkeel Venky in the 2005 Tamil film, Sivakasi; and as Gnanaprakasam in Mozhi. Besides acting, he was also a dubbing artist and a playback singer.

Rajkumar Sethupathi is an actor and producer; he works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu Film Industries. Rajkumar was born in Chennai. His father is producer Shanmugha Rajeswara Sethupathi. His mother’s name is Leelarani. He has an elder sister, Latha, she is a Tamil actress. He belongs to a royal family. Rajkumar is married to Sripriya since 1988.