Aakasha Ganga

This article is about the Malayalam-language horror movie. For the skydiving team of the Indian Air Force, see Akash Ganga.

Aakasha Ganga
Directed by	Vinayan
Screenplay by	Benny P Nayarambalam
Story by	Vinayan
Produced by	Vinayan
Starring	Mukesh Divya Unni Mayuri Madhupal
Cinematography	Ramachandra Babu
Edited by	G. Murali
Music by	Songs Berny-Ignatious Background score Rajamani
Distributed by	Aakash Films
Release date	26 January 1999 (1999-01-26)
Languages	Malayalam Tamil Hindi
Box office	₹ 25 crores

Aakasha Ganga is a 1999 Indian Malayalam-language horror-thriller film directed by Vinayan, starring Divya Unni and Mukesh and produced by Aakash Films. It was dubbed in Tamil as Avala Aaviya and in Hindi as Maaya Ka Saaya. A sequel of the movie Aakasha Ganga 2 has been released on November 1,2019.

Plot

Years ago, Devan (Madhupal), a member of the Maanikesseri royal family, fell in love with Ganga (Mayuri), a 'dasi' (servant) girl. On getting to know about this, Devan's father, Thampuran (Spadikam George), calls him to know what is going on. Devan goes to have an audience with his father holding hands with Ganga and he admits that he loves Ganga and she is going to be the mother of his child. Enraged, the Thampuran slaps and beats Ganga and his goons throw Devan inside a room and lock him inside. The Thampuran slaps Ganga forcefully where she falls against a pillar and lose consciousness. Panicker, a loyal servant of the family, tries to revive her but fails. He comes to the conclusion that Ganga may be dead. So Thampuran and Panicker decide to cremate Ganga, but while doing so, she regains consciousness, asking for water. The merciless Thampuran sets the pyre ablaze and burns her alive.

Later Ganga's soul becomes a Yakshi and starts haunting the family members. Devan kills himself too. Ganga gets hold of Thampuran and kills him. Fearing her wrath, the Maanikesseri family members hires an exorcist, Mepaddan (Rajan P. Dev), who successfully gets hold of the spirit and imprisons her in a Banyan tree. Meppaddan warns the family that the male members of the family should now lead a life of celibacy and that if the spirit is freed, then nobody, even Meppaddan himself, can't stop her.

Years roll by, the family remains true to their word. But trouble starts brewing when Unnikuttan (Riyaz), befriends and falls in love with Maya (Divya Unni), a girl whom he met in the sets of a movie shoot. She too reciprocates his feelings and requests his family to get her married to him. After a lot of persuading, the family members arrange for their marriage only in name, provided that the young couple should not consummate the marriage, to which Maya promises.

One day, when the young couple were shopping, a man named James (Mukesh) interrupts them and identifies Maya as Daisy, his missing fianceé, which Maya opposes. Though the family members think James maybe nuts, Panicker sensed something wrong. In the process, Maya kills Panicker, who reveals that she is actually 'Ganga' but in the body of another girl. Things go haywire; Maya begins attacking family members who suspect her identity, seducing Unni and becomes pregnant. When things become unbearable, the family consult Meppaddan along with Father Mikhayel, another priest, about Maya.

Alas, it is revealed that Maya is in fact a possessed Daisy. Meppaddan reveals the reason; Daisy is actually a college girl hailing from a Christian background. During a college excursion, Daisy happened to pass by the very same banyan tree where 'Mayaganga' was imprisoned. Out of curiosity, she frees Ganga and becomes unconscious. After that incident, her habits changed drastically, even in her diet and prayers. Then, one night, she goes missing, which is then revealed that she was on her way to take revenge on the Maanikesseri family. Through Unni, she was successful in her mission. Meppaddan also reveals that since Ganga has now become powerful, it would be difficult to exorcise her and that she would either take the life of any of the family member or else would kill her host Daisy. Leaving no other choice, Meppaddan proceeds on with an exorcism.

The fiery exorcism takes place with Meppadan battling the stubborn Ganga, who wouldn't leave Daisy until she fulfils her wishes. Then Meppaddan finally exorcises Ganga by deliberately trying to burn her host alive, just like the way she had been burnt years ago, while also taking care that Daisy doesn't burn up. An unconscious Daisy is then hospitalised and on regaining consciousness, does not remember anything when she was possessed, even the Maanikesseri family, but remembers her own family members. Unni accuses both James and his own family for her present condition and leaves, heartbroken. James then reveals to a confused Daisy everything that had happened to her. In the end, James brings Daisy back to the Maanikesseri, who tells them that his love was nothing as compared to Unni's love for Daisy, who also accepted Unni without any hesitation. He also tells them that Daisy is going to be a mother. Hence, he reunites them, with Daisy now acquiring the name 'Maya' and becomes part of the Maanikesseri family, which leads to a happy ending.

Cast

• Divya Unni - Maya/Daisy (Voice Dubbed by Sreeja Ravi)
• Mayoori - Ganga/Spirit (voice dubbed by Ambili)
• Riyaz – Unnikuttan (voice dubbed by Madhupal)
• Mukesh – James/Daisy's Fiancé
• Jagadeesh - Krishnan Thampuran
• Kalabhavan Mani - Varghese Father
• Idavela Babu - Unni's Friend
• Madhupal – Devan/son of Maanikkasheri Thampuran
• Innocent – Rama Varma Thampuran
• Cochin Hanifa - Daisy's Father
• Jagathy Sreekumar - Varkey, Kochu Thrasya's Father
• Sukumari – Maanikkasheri Thampuratti/Devan's Mother
• Spadikam George – Maanikkasheri Thampuran/Devan's Father
• Rajan P. Dev – Meppadan Exorcist
• N. F. Varghese – Mikhayel father / Chekutthanachan
• Kanakalatha – Daisy's Mother
• Kalpana – Kochu Thrasya / Krishnan's wife / Aaveshananda Swamigal
• Shivaji - Panicker
• Bindu Ramakrishnan – Unnikuttan's mother, Savithri
• Indhulekha– Unnikuttan's sister
• Kottayam Nazeer

Song's

• S. Ramesan Nair – lyrics
• K. S. Chithra – singer
• K. J. Yesudas – singer
• Sujatha Mohan – singer

Songs 1 and 2 were composed in Karnatic Raga Pahadi where the songs 3 and 4 composed in Karnatic Raga Mohanam.

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Singer(s)	Length
1.	"Puthu Mazhayayi vannu nee"	S. Ramesan Nair	K. J. Yesudas	02:38
2.	"Puthu Mazhayayi vannu nee"	S. Ramesan Nair	K. S. Chithra	03:06
3.	"Vaikasi thingalirangum vaidooryakadavil"	S. Ramesan Nair	K. J. Yesudas, K. S. Chithra	04:07
4.	"Kai niraye snehavumay"	S. Ramesan Nair	K. J. Yesudas, Sujatha Mohan	02:22
5.	"Kovalanum Kannakiyum"	S. Ramesan Nair	K. S. Chithra	03:05
Total length:				36:12

Box office

The film was a commercial success. The film collected ₹6 crore from box office.

Sequel

A direct sequel to the movie, Aakasha Ganga 2 has been announced by Vinayan on his Facebook page on April 22, 2019. The shooting began on April 24, 2019. The film will star Sreenath Bhasi, Vishnu Vinay, Vishu Govind, Salim Kumar, Hareesh Kanaran, Dharmajan Bolgatty, Rajamani, Hareesh Peradi, Sunil Sukhada, Idavela Babu, Riyas, Saju Kodiyan, Naseer Sankranthy, Ramya Krishnan, Praveena, Thesni Khan, Valsala Menon, Saranya, Kanakalatha, and Niharika.

See also

• List of Malayalam horror films

External links

• Aakasha Ganga at IMDb