VENKALAM 1993
( Bronze)
STORY LOHIDADAS
DIRECTION BHARATHAN
The movie is about a family that the goes through terrible times because of the strong faith of Kunjipennu the mother who married two brothers and wanted the tradition to be continued by her two Sons.
Marriage with more than one man is called Polyandry.
Polyandry and polygamy were prevalent inKerala till the late 19th century and isolated incidents were reported till mid-20th century.Castes practicing polyandry were Nairs,Thiyyas, Kammalans and a few of the artisan castes.
In the case of Nairs and other related castes, a man’s property is inherited by his sister’s children and not his own.Several unrelated men had a common wife in Nair polyandry. Under Nair polyandry, the only conceivable blood-relationship could be ascertained through females.However, polyandry among Nairs is a contested issue with opinion divided between ones who support its existence and ones who do not support it based on the fact that no stable conjugalrelationship is formed in Nair polyandry.
STORY
This is the story of one such family where Kujipennu was married to two brothers Kandappan and Sathukutty.The brothers were so united and all the three lived in perfect harmony. She always boasts about them even after their death
Kunjipennu is a very affectionate and smart widow who has two sons Gopalan and Unnikrishnan. Their family follows the traditional art of making ” Bronze goddess statues”” and other items like lamps , vessels and related things. The day starts with prayers and other rituals so that the work gets completed with out any hinderance.
Gopalan is very much committed and takes his work very seriously where as Unnikrishnan has varied interest. He loves music, doing community work and drama. But he always listens to his brother and helps him in his work. They are very united. Their mother is very proud of them . She always boast about their fathers, how united they were. In fact she tells everyone that she wants her son’s to marry the same girl. But Gopalan was dead against it and he says mother is old timer sticking to outdated customs which no one follows theses days and he can never fulfill this wish of his mother.
Gopalan’s uncles too married the same girl following the old tradition. Gopalan was in love with a girl called Sheela who belonged to a lower caste and was refused by Kunjipennu. She got married to another man but Gopalan is not able to forget her. Unnikrishnan has a liking for the girl who lives nearby. Gopalan’s grandmother visits them. She makes things worse by supporting Kunjipennu ‘s idea and pesters the brothers to marry a nice girl. Kunjipennu goes around looking for a nice girl and she found one.
Since Gopalan was not interested in getting married she wanted Unni to marry that girl. But Gopalan accidentally meets her in Thalaseri Pooram with her mother. He immediately fell for her charm and changed his mind about marriage. Her name is Thankamani and Gopalan opens his heart to his grandmother. She passed it on to his mother. But Gopalan does not want to follow the old tradition. Even Unni feels the same and wants to marry his sweet heart . Gopalan and and Thankamani got married on an auspicious day and start a nice , happy married life.
Sometimes when he touches her , his mind thinks about the goddess idols he used to make and that gives him some mental block. Thankamani was liked by one and all in the family. Unni shares everything with her and they sometimes have fun at the expense of Gopalan pulling his legs. But seeing them together brings different ideas in Kunjipennu ‘s mind. But. Thankam treats him like her own brother.Gopalan too never suspects her.
The two brothers with their drama troupe is trying to stage a new drama. Unni is busy with the drama troupe arranging accommodation etc whereas Gopalan is concentrating more on the work. Unni comes late at times and Thangam sincerely serves him food staying awake. Kunjipennu is worried about Unni moving with the drama troupe girls and wants him to get married. Achamma slowly puts things into her mind saying why can’t Thangam be his wife too as per the tradition. Kunjipennu too feels it is not a bad idea. Achamma even quotes Droupathi in Mahabaratha.
Kunjipennu intentionally creates some situation so that they both can be together. Neveronce Gopalan suspected Thangam or Unni. In fact Gopalan is keen on looking for a bride for Unni. But he was surprised to see his mother lacking all interest to look for one . At one time she even narrates the story of Panchali in Mahabaratha telling her how lucky she is to have 5 husbands who just doted on her. But innocent Thangam could not read between lines.
When nothing is working according to her plans Kunjipennu wanted to create a situation. On the day of the actual play she was acting as though she is in severe pain and asked Gopalan to stay home and asked Thangam to go with Unni. Gopalan’s uncle too poisoned his mind saying that Gopalan is too innocent to notice the relationship between the two and asked him to be careful , otherwise Unni might walk away with his beloved Thangam.
Gopalan’s mind is completely confused. When he saw his wife and Unni laughing and talking freely on their way back he got mad. He took a physical fight with his brother abusing both of them . Unni and Thangam were clueless why he is behaving like an animal but his mother understood. She wants to make use of this situation too. She asks Unni to go and console her. When he saw him coming out of their bedroom he was sure they had an affair and he started beating her black and blue.
Thangam couldn’t take it anymore. When Gopalan came to know she is pregnant she made nasty remarks saying the baby is not his. This was the last straw. Thankam decided to leave the house and she packed her bags. Kunjipennu realised what a blunder she comitted. Achamma too realised all their calculations went wrong.
Unni never even wanted to look at his brother. Now they had a order to make a Devi deity for a temple. Gopalan decided to do it all alone preventing anyone even to enter the workshop. When he started doing it he strangely felt it is coming alive. He could feel the baby in a womb slowly growing which gives him goosebumps. When he finished the idol and opened the mould he heard the cry of the day new born baby.
The Devi idol looked exactly like Thangam. The festival was celebrated with great joy. When Gopalan was having a drink he heard someone mentioning that Thangam has delivered a baby girl. He thought Devi herself is born but what he heard next made him mad . They were teasing him saying Unni is already there and how lucky the baby is to have two fathers.
Gopalan straight went home looking for Unni.He saw his mother sitting outside. He made nasty remarks about Unni and Thangam and blamed her for running his life. Kunjipennu came to know about the baby ‘s birth only then and said Unni is innocent and has nothing to do with Thangam. But like a raging bull he straight went to Thangam’s house and saw Unni outside. He pulled him out and started attacking him. At that time he saw a woman coming out of the house. It was none other than Unni’s Sweet heart. Gopalan realised that Unni has married her and they both came to visit the newborn baby.
Everything is clear to him. He was so eager to see the baby. But before he tried to enter the house Thangam brought the baby and placed it on the ground , infront of him. The baby started crying loudly. Gopalan couldn’t believe his eyes. He heard the same sound while finishing the ” Devi” idol. He cried ” Devi , Devi ” and took the baby in his arms. He wen inside and hugged her. All his doubts about her is gone. It is only time to rejoice now.
Super acting by Urvasi, Murali, Laitha and Jayan. The strong story line and excellent direction make this movie one of the mile stone movies.
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