Thalavattam

1986 147’ col Malayalam d/s Priyadarshan pc Seven Arts Prod. lyr Poovachal Khader, Pantalam Sudhakaran c S. Kumar m Raghukumar, Rajamani, Johnson lp Mohanlal, Karthika, Nedumudi Venu, M.G. Soman

Priyadarshan’s highly adapted version of Asit Sen’s Deep Jweley Jai (1959) and Khamoshi (1969) following also in the wake of Milos Forman’s successful One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975). Mentally deranged hero Vinu (Mohanlal) is admitted to an asylum, where he is befriended by one of the doctors (Venu) who happens to be a childhood buddy. Heroine Savithri (Karthika), also employed in the hospital, falls for the hero in the process of curing him. However, Savithri’s tyrannical father (Soman), who owns the asylum, cruelly performs a lobotomy operation on the hero because he fears for his daughter’s future. Like all Priyadarshan films, this one too works extensively with flashbacks, using the various drastic shock treatments meted out to the hero as an excuse for some psychedelic musical effects.

Film