Synopsis
Udayananu Tharam is the story of Udayabhanu (Mohanlal), a worshipper of films and an immensely talented assistant film director, who yearns to write and direct his own movie at a time when the industry is filled with dubious filmmakers. Rajappan Thengummoodu (Sreenivasan) is a rather crooked friend of Udayabhanu and an aspiring and failed actor. As Udayabhanu finally prepares to shoot his first movie based on his own script, he discovers to his horror that Rajappan has stolen his manuscript, and shooting is underway with Rajappan playing the lead, which eventually propels him to stardom. Udhayabhanu soon finds himself faced with a career and personal crisis, with his faltering relations with his superstar wife Madhumati (Meena) contributing to the latter.
Later, with the help of producer Babykuttan (Mukesh), Udayabanu prepares to direct another film, but he is forced to cast Rajappan as the hero since he was the star with most screen value at that time. Rajappan takes up the offer, since he is also at a plateau of his career, but refuses to co-operate and throws tantrums and causes maximum trouble when possible. He spends most of his time actively flirting with the actresses in the film.
Towards the end of the shoot - using a perceived insult as a ruse, Rajappan leaves the set leaving the movie unfinished with the hope that this will destroy Udayabanu's career for ever. But Udayabanu devises clever tactics and shoots the remaining scenes with Rajappan without him even being aware of it. At the end - the film is a critical and Box Office success, but Rajappan realises his mistakes and admits publicly that Udayabanu is the real star and not himself. (Hence the film title - "Udayan is the star" - in Malayalam.)
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