Director: I.V. Sasi; Writer: Renjith; Producer: V.B.K. Menon; Cinematographer: V. Jayaram; Cast: Mohanlal, Revathi, Innocent, Nedumudi Venu, Chitra, Napoleon
Duration: 02:38:53; Aspect Ratio: 2.368:1; Hue: 280.885; Saturation: 0.028; Lightness: 0.406; Volume: 0.256; Cuts per Minute: 18.597
Summary: A film about a ‘good’ villain exemplifying and
celebrating contemporary Hindu chauvinist
brutalism. Mangalassery Neelakandan
(Mohanlal) is a drunk, a womaniser and the
wealthy boss of a band of thugs available for
disrupting public events. However, he is
presented as essentially decent, donating
money to a local temple and patronising
classical music. His ‘weaknesses’ are not his
fault but the unfortunate consequences of
‘modern times’ and the regrettable decaying of
feudalism. Halfway through the film, he is
paralysed following some unusually violent
scenes, but nursed to recovery by a Bharat
Natyam dancer, Bhanu (Revathi), whose career
he had ruined earlier. Her action demonstrates
the redemptive powers of tradition and the
hero can now do the right thing in the film’s
climax: in an orgy of violence at a temple
festival, the restored hero is able to reassert his
righteous manhood by battering his rivals into
submission.
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