General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Dasharatham (ദശരഥം)

Dasharatham (ദശരഥം) is a 1989 Malayalam-language drama film directed by Sibi Malayil and written by A. K. Lohithadas, in which a wealthy orphan, Rajiv Menon, arranges to have a child through a surrogate mother, Annie, without marrying.¹^•² It is regarded as the first Malayalam film to address surrogacy, and it was released on 19 October 1989, produced under the Saga Films banner.³^•⁴

Key fact	Detail
Release	19 October 1989; runtime 154 minutes⁴
Director and writer	Sibi Malayil (director); A. K. Lohithadas (story, screenplay, dialogues)⁵
Production	Saga Films banner; producer credited as Saga Appachan⁵^•⁶
Lead cast	Mohanlal as Rajiv Menon, Rekha as Annie, Murali as Chandradas²
Music	Johnson, with lyrics by Poovachal Khader⁵
Subject	Surrogacy through artificial insemination, treated before it was familiar to Malayali audiences³
Reception	Cold response in theaters at first; later became a cult film⁷

Spoilers

Plot

Rajiv Menon, an orphan and eccentric millionaire, lives for drink and celebrations with his friends, having lost his parents early and knowing little of family relationships.⁴^•² He decides he wants a child of his own without undergoing marriage, and chooses surrogacy.⁸

He finds Annie, a woman who needs money for her husband's medical treatment, and she agrees to bear Rajiv's child through artificial insemination.⁸^•⁹ The arrangement begins on a transactional basis, but the film follows the emotional attachment Annie develops toward the fetus, and her perception of the arrangement changes when she gives birth.⁸^•¹⁰ Annie's husband Chandradas is played by Murali.¹¹

The film's title refers to King Dasharatha of the Ramayana, who fathered children through surrogate bearers, a parallel the academic commentary on the film draws explicitly.⁴

Cast and crew

Mohanlal plays Rajiv Menon, a role that a Manorama retrospective on the film's thirtieth anniversary counted among the best characters of his career.²^•¹² The supporting cast includes Nedumudi Venu as Scariah, Sukumaran as Dr. Hameed, Sukumari as Maggie, Karamana Janardanan Nair as Manager Pillai, Kaviyoor Ponnamma as Chandradas's mother, Jayabharathi as Dr. Zeenath, and KPAC Lalitha as Mariyamma.²^•⁹

Behind the camera, the cinematography was by Venu, editing by L. Bhoominathan, art direction by C. K. Suresh, and sound recording by Anand.⁴ Johnson composed the music and Poovachal Khader wrote the lyrics; the song "Chinjilam Thenmozhi" (ചിഞ്ചിലം തേന്മൊഴി) is sung by M. G. Sreekumar.⁵

Surrogacy before its time

The film was made in 1989, when surrogacy had no legal backing in India, and at a time when artificial insemination and rented wombs were not familiar concepts to Malayali audiences.¹⁰^•¹¹ An academic analysis published in the International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research in 2023 calls it "a movie born before the time" and uses it to study the emotional suffering of a surrogate mother, applying themes drawn from research on surrogacy: experiences of pregnancy, relationships with family and the commissioning couple, consequences of surrogacy, and the mother's emotional attachment to the baby.¹

A 2021 Indian Express opinion piece comparing the film with the 2021 Hindi surrogacy drama Mimi argued that Dasharatham remains a more compelling drama because it centers the surrogate woman's dilemma.¹⁰ Commentary in the Kerala University film archive reads the film differently, noting that it ultimately returns the child to the "mother" and folds the surrogate back into the traditional Kerala maternal ideal.⁴

Reception and afterlife

Initial run and cult status. The film received a cold response in theaters at first, but later became a cult film; many viewers who saw it on television included it in lists of great Malayalam cinema.⁷ It also earned critical praise alongside audience appreciation, and it holds an 8.5 rating on IMDb.¹³

Dubbing milestone. According to a Filmibeat retrospective, the film was the first in the history of Malayalam cinema to be dubbed into Marathi.¹⁴ The same account records that director Balu Kiriyath had earlier planned a surrogacy-themed film with Mammootty, who withdrew on the view that Kerala audiences would not accept the subject; Lohithadas and Sibi Malayil later realized the theme in Dasharatham.¹⁴

Streaming and re-release. The film streamed on ManoramaMax from October 2020 to September 2021 and was unavailable on any Indian streaming platform afterward.¹⁵ In an August 2024 interview, Sibi Malayil said the film has strong re-release potential but that he did not know whether the original print could be located, and that because it was shot on mono sound, a theatrical re-release could be a challenge.⁷

Notes on sources

Listings disagree on the runtime: the Kerala University film archive and OTTASIA give 154 minutes, while Rotten Tomatoes lists 2h 37m.⁴^•⁹^•⁶ The Apple TV listing under the title ദശരഥം carries the plot and cast of a different 1989 Sibi Malayil film and does not describe this movie.¹⁶

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Indian films (individual works) › Malayalam films before 2010

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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