Mohanlal 2018

Sethu Madhavan [Indrajith Sukumaran] is introduced at a quiet railway station where he meets Mr Who, a homeless wanderer with his dog. Mr Who reads Sethu’s mood with uncanny accuracy and realizes that Sethu has come to the station to end his life by stepping in front of a train. Rather than condemn him, Mr Who asks Sethu to share his story while there’s time before the next train passes. What follows is a deep, bittersweet portrait of love, loss, and the power of obsession.

The film unfolds a memory-filled arc about Meenukutty [Manju Warrier], tracing her childhood and growth into adulthood alongside Sethu. Meenukutty’s life is colored by an intense, almost magical adoration for the Malayalam film star Mohanlal, and her devotion shapes every choice she makes. As their lives intertwine, a quiet romance blossoms between Meenukutty and Sethu, framed by the way she continually sees Mohanlal’s presence in everyday moments and in the scenes from his movies.

Sethu Madhavan’s life with Meenukutty becomes a delicate test of patience, faith, and humor as her manic adoration of Mohanlal surfaces in practical, sometimes embarrassing ways. When she and Sethu marry, her obsession leads to a string of memorable episodes—Meenukutty attending a Ravanaprabhu screening and earning the reverence of Mohanlal fans, or advising a girl to meet her boyfriend because Mohanlal did so in a film. There are moments where friends and strangers alike are pulled into her fervor, and Sethu endures the comical chaos while trying to support his wife.

The couple’s hopes loom large when Meenukutty becomes pregnant—a long-cherished dream for Sethu and his family. A late-night movie trip followed by a bike ride home cruelly interrupts that dream with a miscarriage, leaving both spouses devastated. The heartbreak forces Sethu to relocate from their village to the city after a bank transfer, seeking a fresh start in a new branch and a new rhythm of life.

In the city, the couple encounters a colorful, lively colony and a host of humorous situations centered on Meenukutty’s Mohanlal fixation. The lighthearted comedy sits alongside more somber notes as Meenukutty’s world grows complicated by fresh hopes and new temptations. The story intensifies when a resident in the colony poses as a Mohanlal movie scriptwriter and tricks Meenukutty into handing over her gold and money, convinced this money will fund a Mohanlal project she dreams of producing.

A crucial misunderstanding compounds the pain: Meenukutty discovers a bag of money in a cupboard that had been given to Sethu by a close friend to repay a bank loan. She misreads this as a secret stash Sethu hid to fund a film project for Aluva Aamod [Aju Varghese], and she hands over the money to Aamod in the belief that she’s helping him fulfill a dream. When Sethu returns home and learns what happened, anger and heartbreak overwhelm him. He lashes out, blaming himself for trusting his wife and for ignoring the warnings of those who once feared the consequences of Meenukutty’s fixation. He even declares that he no longer wants to live in a world where his reputation as an honest man could be tarnished.

Overwhelmed by despair, Sethu heads to the railway station to die, but Mr Who challenges him to face his life with the courage of Mohanlal’s heroes. The wanderer’s rebuke shifts Sethu’s resolve, and he decides to return home. On the way, he broadcasts the truth about the scammer and joins the Mohanlal fans in tracking him down. The pursuit brings the money back into their hands, and Sethu receives a crucial call: Meenu has fallen into a deeper crisis and needs blood in the hospital.

At the hospital, the doctor and the Mohanlal fan club rally around Meenu, and Sethu learns that Meenu’s love for Mohanlal sprang from a childhood wound—her father’s death—that Mohanlal’s films helped her survive. The doctor presents Meenu’s suicide note, where she explains how Mohanlal’s art helped her emerge from her darkest days. The note reframes Sethu’s heartbreak into a more compassionate understanding of Meenu’s vulnerability, and he realizes the depth of his wife’s illness and love.

The story closes on a hopeful note: Meenu wakes in the hospital, and Sethu, along with the fan club, greets her with relief and smiles. The couple’s renewed bond is celebrated as they sit together to watch the new Mohanlal blockbuster, Pulimurugan, in a cinema packed with fans. The final image is one of shared joy and communal support—as Meenu’s favorite star shines on screen, she and Sethu find a path forward together, surrounded by friends who believed in them all along.