Yathra

1985 124’ col Malayalam d/sc/c Balu Mahendra pc Prakkat Films st/dial John Paul lyr O.N.V. Kurup m Ilaiyaraja lp Mammootty, Shobhana, Adoor Bhasi, Thilakan, Kunjan

Tragic love story between a forest officer (Mammootty) and village belle Tulsi (Shobhana). Arrested for the murder of his best friend, a crime he did not commit, the forest officer goes to jail while freeing his fiancee from any commitment to their planned marriage. However, when he is finally released she is waiting for him. Apparently inspired partly by Alan Parker’s Midnight Express (1978), Yoji Yamada’s Shiawase No Kiiroi Hankuchi [Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness] (1978) and The Sound of Music (1965) the love story reinforces much of the fatalism often associated with Mammootty’s screen persona.

Film