Sammohanam

1994 106’ col Malayalam d/p C.P. Padmakumar pc Cine Valley sc Balakrishnan Mangad c M.R.Radhakrishnan m Ilaiyaraja lp Archana, Murali, Nedumudi Venu, Sarath Das, Radhakrishnan, K.P.A.C. Lalitha, Kukku Parameshwaran, Janu, Kunjani

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.

Film