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Ottayadi Paathakal

aka The Narrow Footpaths 1990 96’ col Malayalam d/s C. Radhakrishnan p Vincent Chittilapally pc St Vincent Movies c Sunny Joseph m Mohan Sitara lp Madhu, Sreenath, Revathi, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Isaac Thomas, Somasundaran, Chandran Nair, Paul Neelankavil, Rahim

A heavy-handed, NFDC-financed melodrama shot in Trichur and featuring a group of characters: an old judge, Bhaskara Menon (Madhu), his daughter Sati and his mentally retarded son, and the nephew, Anup Kumar, who covets the daughter. However, Sati refuses to marry Anup and devotes herself to mothering her father and brother. The dramatic event is the death of the son, Suku, a mercy- killing by electrocution by his father, the judge. The latter goes crazy (indicated by e.g. the fact that he makes an abstract painting) and, apparently sleepwalking, jumps to his death. Sati and Anup get together after all. The film mainly showcased an ageing Madhu playing the tearful judge. The director, educated as a scientist, is best known as a novelist.

Film