Director: C.P. Padmakumar; Writer: Balakrishnan Mangad; Producer: C.P. Padmakumar; Cinematographer: M.R.Radhakrishnan; Editor: K.R. Bose; Cast: Archana, Murali, Nedumudi Venu, Sarath Das, Radhakrishnan, K.P.A.C. Lalitha, Kukku Parameshwaran, Janu, Kunjani
Duration: 01:40:13; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 53.708; Saturation: 0.108; Lightness: 0.273; Volume: 0.168; Cuts per Minute: 11.525
Summary: Mobilising figures and themes from rural Kerala
folk forms, especially theyyam, the story set in
remote North Kerala centers on a young
woman, Pennu (‘the girl’), whose sensuality
disturbs and destroys the static tranquillity of a
village inhabited by character types familiar
from village stories and folkloric tales,
incarnating an array of vices and virtues: the
hardworking sugarcane farmer Chandu
(Murali) and his family, their slightly backward
helper Ambu (Das), Chindan (Radhakrishnan)
who operates a sugar mill and his sister
Kunjunni (Parameshwaran), some local drunks,
the old Karuvan allegedly possessing magical
powers, and the trader Ummini who travels to
the city and back, providing the village’s link
with the outside world, and a consummate
storyteller. Ummini and Pennu eventually form
a couple, but the turmoil she caused among the
locals results in Chindan mistakenly knifing
Ambu, the symbol of rural innocence, and
drowning himself. Pennu is forced to leave the
village in the end, having dislocated it with her
sexuality.
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