The plot follows an award winning musician Vishal Krishnamoorthy who returns to his alma mater to direct a musical.

[5][1][6] Vishal Krishnamoorthy, a world famous musician is about to receive a prestigious musical award for his symphony Rhythm of Love.

The story now cuts back to his past where Vishal is struggling to pay his debts and to build a career of his own.

There was a special musical instrument called the "Seven Bells" kept by Angelina, locked inside a chapel within the college where no one was allowed to enter.

Mary is the only daughter of a rich man who falls in love with a young musician, Nikhil Maheshwar.

On the night of his arrival, while composing a song for the play, Vishal hears a beautiful melodic composition from the tape record near him.

The film ends by showing Vishal dedicating his award to Maheswar and Alina by placing it above The Seven Bells in the present.

In 1983, Sibi Malayil conceived Devadoothan as his debut feature film while working as an assistant director at Navodaya Studio.

Director Jijo Punnoose suggested Raghunath Paleri develop the story into a screenplay to be produced under the Navodaya company.

Sibi and Paleri spent a year perfecting the screenplay which Jojo Paulose supported, which originally featured a seven-year-old boy in a boarding school as the protagonist.

Sibi considered Naseeruddin Shah and Madhavi in the roles of the musician Maheshwar and his lover Alina, but the project stalled for unknown reasons.

[citation needed] It was revealed by Sibi during an interview in 2024, Navodaya rejected script citing it wouldn't work .

[9] In 2000, Sibi discussed collaborating on a film with producer Siyad Kokker and revisited the Devadoothan story.

Initially, the makers intended to cast newcomers, and R. Madhavan, then a television actor, was approached for the role of the young lover.

While searching for other actors, Mohanlal heard the story from Kokker and expressed interest in playing the lead.

This led Sibi and Paleri to rewrite the screenplay to accommodate Mohanlal, resulting in the final version of Devadoothan.

[7][8] Vineeth Kumar experienced fear of dogs on set during the filming of the death scene of Maheshwar where he got bitten during the second take as his co-star Murali was angry about the stunt.

The traditional Tyagaraja Pancharatna Kriti "Entharo Mahanu" (composed in Shree Raga) was re-mixed with a western classical composition for the film.

The film initially failed at the box office, leading to despair for the producer and director.

However, later it received critical acclaim for its theme, music, cast performance, direction and a unique and fresh storyline.

One of the reason for its failure at the box office was the style of the film which was unlike anything the Malayali audience had seen before.