Yavanika (transl. The Curtain) is a 1982 Indian Malayalam-language mystery thriller film written and directed by K. G. George, and starring Bharath Gopi and Mammootty along with Nedumudi Venu, Jalaja and Thilakan in supporting roles.[1][2][3] The film is regarded as one of the finest mystery or investigative thrillers ever made in Malayalam cinema.[4]The movie makes use of the Rashomon Effect. The film received wide critical acclaim.[5]Yavanika is one of George's most celebrated films, regarded by critics as a masterpiece of Malayalam cinema.[6][7]
Plot
Vakkachan is a popular theatre director who runs his drama company known as 'Bhavana theatres'. He directs his own dramas and is a critically acclaimed director. Vakkachan's dramas often get awarded as the best ones in the state drama awards (for the story). The movie opens with a scene wherein the troupe prepares to leave late in the night, for a stage show at a far-off place. Everyone had arrived and boarded the bus, except for Kollappally, a popular and awarding winning performer of the troupe. On that rain-drenched evening, Kollappalli arrives unusually late and gives excuses to Vakkachan for being late, just as the bus departs.
On the way, they pick-up Rohini, the regular female lead role in the dramas, from her home. Vakkachan enquires about Ayyappan, the Tabla player of the troupe, with whom Rohini lives. Rohini says she isn't aware of his whereabouts and that he hadn’t returned home the previous night. Varunan, the troupe's comedian, suggests diverting the bus through the nearest liquor shop, where Ayyappan, a drunkard by nature, might be sleeping inebriated. However, Ayyappan isn't at the liquor shop, and the troupe proceeds to the stage show, hoping that Ayyappan might be joining them directly over there.
The drama starts, but Ayyappan hadn't turned up yet. Vakkachan takes the risk of starting the show without the Tabalist. The drama goes well, despite the orchestra missing the Tabalist that night. The team proceed to a hotel mid way to the following day's stage show location. The following morning Chellapan sends another Tabalist named Janardhanan as a replacement for Ayyappan. After two consecutive shows, the troupe returns home and first drops Rohini first at her home. They find that Ayyappan hadn’t returned to their home yet.
After a week, the troupe members realize that the Ayyappan's 'missing' is mysterious and without any valid reason. This is despite his history of quarrelling and leaving the troupe in the past. Varunan advices Vakkachan to register a police complaint for a missing person case. The police files the case and a police officer CI Jacob Eeraly takes up the investigation.
Soon, Jacob Eeraly starts his inquiry. He interrogates the troupe members one by one. Some are of the opinion that Ayyappan might have left the troupe or the place with other women as he had forcefully snatched Rohini's ornaments, the day before he went missing. The Police remain clueless except for a few probable leads such as (1) Ayyappan son's presence in the scene, a potential reprisal to Ayyappan, just before his mysterious disappearance, (2) the verbal arguments between Balagopalan and Ayyappan in the liquor shop on the night of the latter's disappearance, and (3) evidences of Ayyappan selling Rohini's ornaments to a jeweler the evening before he went missing. A month later, when people slowly started forgetting about Ayyappan, his body is recovered from a paddy field, midway between the drama company's location and Rohini's house.
The man missing case now becomes a murder case and the police had intensified the investigation. The police officer recovers a key chain with some keys, from the spot where the body was found and it has a carving 'J.K.' in it. CI Jacob realizes that it must be the short name for Joseph Kollappally. He apprehends Kollappally after a stage show and quietly arrests him. Kollappaly confesses to the murder of Ayyappan, claiming he did it on the roadside, when he accidentally met him that night. Following a quarrel and fight, he had killed Ayyappan. Kollapally said that he hid the body under the paddy field. The motive was a quarrel between the two. Jacob Eeraly partially believes it, although some missing links exist - such as the presence of a shard of broken glass which was used to stab the victim, was found from Rohini's house, instead of at the spot where Kollappally reported he had committed the crime.
The next day, the drama troupe waits for Kollappally, unaware that he was arrested. The police plan to set a ploy to identify the role of Rohini in the murder. Kollappally was allowed to phone the troupe and give a message that he will come to the stage show directly. The curtain rises and the show starts. Rohini becomes nervous not knowing where Kollappally was and why he was late. Kollappally arrives and tells her secretly at the backstage that he has been arrested by the police for murdering Ayyappan. Rohini momentarily loses consciousness and she enters the stage in the middle of the show and confesses to the audience in a tensed manner, that it was she who killed Ayyappan, and not Kollappally.
She confesses to the police that Ayyappan had stolen her ornaments and sold it for money, and taunted Rohini that he will be trapping her sister for pleasure as well, and ruin her life like he did to Rohini. This triggered her anger and she stabbed him to death. As a desperate measure, Rohini sought Kollapally's help that night, knowing very well that he would help, as he always empathized with her for her situation of being in a forced relationship with Ayyappan, against her will. Kollappaly helped her hide the body under the paddy field. Following her confession, both Rohini and Kollapally are taken into custody by the police.
The movie ends with a scene where the rest of the troupe members enter the bus silently and departing from the scene.
About the film's development, K. G. George says: "I was staying in Madras those days when I got a call from Henry. He told me he was interested in making a Malayalam film with me and asked me if I had any subjects in hand. This led to a meeting at hotel Taj Connemara where I told him about two subjects. This included Adaminte Variyellu and Yavanika. Henry was keen about Yavanika and gave me the go ahead."[5]
Filming
The entire shoot was in the suburbs of Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram. The theatre, the house to which Ayyappan brings Rohini, were all located nearby.[5]
Release and reception
The film was released in four theatres. For the first week the response was lukewarm, but later picked up and became both commercial and critical success.[4][8][9]Yavanika released along with the Prem Nazir-starrer Ivanoru Simham but still it managed to surpass its box office collection.[10] Film critic Kozhikodan included Yavanika on his list of the 10 best Malayalam movies of all time.[11] Premlal of The Cue felt that, "'Yavanika adhered to the hallmarks of mainstream cinema and opened the way for broad possibilities to embrace the theme and characters with complexity and approach them philosophically and psychologically."[6]
^Kozhikodan (2001). മലയാള സിനിമയിലെ എക്കാലത്തെയും മികച്ച പത്ത് ചിത്രങ്ങൾ [Malayala Cinemayile Ekkalatheyum Mikacha Pathu Chithrangal: 10 Best Films of All Time in Malayalam Cinema]. Calicut, India: Poorna Publications.
