Samrajyam

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Samrajyam
Poster designed by Gayathri Ashokan
Directed by	Jomon
Screenplay by	Shibu Chakravarthy
Story by	Jacob Jomon K.J
Produced by	D. Ajmal Hassan
Starring	Mammootty Madhu Captain Raju Vijayaraghavan
Cinematography	Jayanan Vincent
Edited by	K. P. Hariharaputhran
Music by	Ilaiyaraaja
Production company	Arifa Productions
Distributed by	Shyni Films Release
Release date	22 June 1990 (1990-06-22) (Kerala)
Running time	122 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Samrajyam (transl. Empire) is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language gangster film directed by Jomon.^[1] The film stars Mammootty as Alexander, a powerful underworld don. The film narrates the story of his rise and fall. The film features Madhu, Captain Raju, Ashokan, Vijayaraghavan and Srividya in supporting roles.

During the making of 1921 (1988), Mammootty and Jomon, who was assistant director, discussed a thread that had been developed by Jomon, based on organized crime and mafia. Impressed, Mammootty asked him to develop it into a story. Mammootty introduced Jomon to Shibu Chakravarthy on the sets of No.20 Madras Mail (1990). Both of them developed the script over "several brainstorming sessions." The film features no songs, only background score composed by Ilaiyaraaja, while the cinematography was handled by Jaynan Vincent.^[2]

Samrajyam was released on 22 June 1990 with positive feedback and became a commercial success, running in theaters for 200 days.^[3] The dubbed version of the film was then released in Andhra Pradesh. The film brought by the distributor for about 10 prints went on to play in 400 prints due to the huge demand in theaters.^[4] The sequel of the film was released in 2015 named, Samrajyam II: Son of Alexander, starring Unni Mukundan.^[5]

Alexander, a powerful mafia leader, faces several trials and tribulations while trying to juggle his estranged relationship with his mother who abandoned him and rule the underworld.

Speaking on an interview with Mathrubhumi in 2020, on how he developed the story for Samrajyam, Jomon said he had always wanted make a film on organized crime and mafia, based on real-life incidents. He had always been fascinated in it from his childhood. He began working as an associate director to I. V. Sasi in the late 1980s. He was the sixth assistant director to Sasi in 1921 (1988). During shooting breaks, he narrated a thread he had in mind to Mammootty. Impressed, Mammootty asked him to develop it into a story. He then developed a story which he narrated to Mammootty and Joshiy on the sets of Mahayanam (1989).Joshiy felt the story was "interesting" and asked him to develop a script.^[4]

Jomon said: "After that I started writing the script while staying at the lodge in Madras. A month later, when Mammooka arrived at the Woodlands Hotel in Madras, I went and met him with the written script." After reading it in one sitting, Mammootty thought that it lacked an experienced screenwriter and introduced Jomon to Dennis Joseph. Dennis Joseph could not take up the work as he was busy with other projects. After preliminary discussions Dennis Joseph suggest Shibu Chakravarty, who was his assistant at that time and also a lyricist, to do the script work. Chakravarthy had experience on collaborating on scripts of Mammootty starrers Manu Uncle (1988) and Adharvam (1989), both of which were written by Dennis Joseph. Jomon said he and Chakravarthy collaborated and wrote the script over "several brainstorming sessions."^[6]

After the script was completed, Jomon started searching for a producer who could bankroll the project. During his time in Chennai, Jomon had met Arifa Hassan of Arifa Enterprises during his time and had worked as assistant director in several of his films. At the time, Hassan had produced several loss making projects and as per Jomon was in a state of "despair." However, when Mammootty was informed that Arifa was producing the project he was hesitant. As per Jomon, Mammootty and Arifa Hassan were not on good terms after their last film Thadaakam (1982). However, Jomon was adamant that Hassan produce the film. Mammootty eventually agreed to film after one and half years.^[4]

Jayabharathi's house in Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram airport were the main locations of the film. The film's cinematographer was Jayanan Vincent who had worked with Jomon earlier in several films. The initial shots were scenes involving Madhu and Sreevidhya. Mammootty joined the location a week later. According to Jomon, Mammootty used to call Madhu to inquire about the shooting progress. Principal photography of the film was completed in 28 days for 6.5 million.^[6]

The film had no songs, only background scores. Ilaiyaraaja was Jomon's first choice for the composer of the film. However, Ilaiyaraaja was the busiest composer in South India at the time. Jomon asked Hassan if he could get Ilaiyaraaja as composer and both of them met him at Prasad Studios in Chennai. After meeting Jomon, Ilaiyaraaja gave a green signal and he watched the film, the next day. Upon watching the film Ilaiyaraaja was impressed and postponed the work for a Sivaji Productions venture and started work on Samrajyam the next day.^[4]

The film received highly positive reviews from critics and was praised for its direction and effects.^[7]

The film was a major commercial success at the Kerala and Andhra Pradesh box office.^[8][6][5][1] The film ran over 400 days in Andhra Pradesh box office. The film remains to be the longest running Malayalam film in Andhra Pradesh. It ran for 50 days in 25 centres, 100 days in 9 centres, 150 days in 3 theatres, 400 days in 1 theatre in Andhra Pradesh and collected 80 million share as final. In Kerala, it started with all-time record initial and completed silver jubilee in main centre. In Chennai Emerald theatre, Samrajyam had 250 days run with 4 shows and was blockbuster in TN too. ^[9]

Samrajyam II: Son of Alexander starring Unni Mukundan in the lead was released in 2015. The movie was the debut Malayalam venture of Tamil director Perarasu. Twenty five years from the original, this sequel tells the story of Alexander's son.^[2]

• Samrajyam at IMDb

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