Udayananu Tharam

Udayananu Tharam
Promotional poster
Directed by	Rosshan Andrrews
Screenplay by	Sreenivasan
Story by	Sreenivasan Rosshan Andrrews
Produced by	C. Karunakaran
Starring	Mohanlal Meena Sreenivasan Mukesh Jagathy Sreekumar
Cinematography	S. Kumar
Edited by	Ranjan Abraham
Music by	Deepak Dev Ouseppachan (Score)
Production company	Perfect Group
Distributed by	Carlton Films
Release date	21 January 2005 (2005-01-21) (Kerala)
Running time	162 minutes
Country	India
Language	Malayalam
Budget	₹2.35 crore[1]
Box office	est. ₹6.69 crore[1]

Udayananu Tharam (transl. Udayan is the star) is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language black comedy satire film directed by Rosshan Andrrews and written by Sreenivasan based on a story he had co-written with the director. The film stars Mohanlal, Meena, Sreenivasan, Mukesh and Jagathy Sreekumar. The songs featured in the film was composed by Deepak Dev, while Ouseppachan provided the background score. Udayananu Tharam presents the Malayalam film industry through a satirical viewpoint.^[2][3]

The financial and artistic crisis which plagued the once glittering Malayalam film industry at the turn of the 21st century lies at the center of the story. It depicts the struggles of Udayabhanu (Mohanlal), who is an assistant director and who aspires to be a director. But he is thwarted in his attempts by a scheming friend and junior artist, Rajappan Thengamoodu (Sreenivasan), who steals his screenplay to become superstar Saroj Kumar.

The film made the biggest ever opening until then in the history of Malayalam cinema. The film won two Kerala State Film Awards, for Best Debut Director and for Best Choreography. ^[4] It is inspired by the 1999 movie Bowfinger.^[5] It was remade into Tamil cinema as Velli Thirai in 2008 and into Bollywood as Shortkut in 2009.