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Blinded by the glitter Film Review

Swarnam

Directed by debutant Venugopan, Swarnam attempts to describe how faith triumphs over man’s greed for the yellow metal. Scripted by Suresh Babu, the film also throws light on the inhuman practices in the name of faith.

Divakaran (Kalabhavan Mani), ever greedy for money, lives in a village close to Shiruvani river with his mother, wife Radha (Praveena) and niece Ponnu (Baby Nayantara). The legend goes that a treasure is hidden in the river.

Though his mother advises him to look for it, Divakaran is not interested. Because, those who attempted to get it never came back. So, he opts to sell wares in the market in a bullock-cart and dreams of buying a lorry.

On the day he is to hand over the money for the lorry, he finds that it has been stolen. Mad with fury, Divakaran destroys everything in sight and pursues the thief. Finally, he gets a clue and tries to kill the thief. Exhausted, he falls asleep on a rock.

He is woken up by his mother’s voice which beseeches him to go in search of the gold. He goes home to find his mother lying on death bed. This incident affects him. Divakaran begins his gold hunt, persuaded by Yonachan Muthalali (Jagathi Sreekumar), who has ulterior motives.

They meet with a lot of obstacles on the way. Yonachan advises Divakaran to meet a sorcerer who tells him to perform a human sacrifice to appease goddess Durga to get the gold. Divakaran decides to sacrifice Ponnu.

Kalabhavan Mani excels as Divakaran. Praveena makes a strong comeback as a woman who has to put up with an inconsiderate husband. Murali portrays the anguish of a tormented father. Jagathi Sreekumar is his usual self.

Baby Nayantara’s dialogues at times appear unnatural for a five-year-old. The cast includes Indrans, Nedumpram Gopi, Narayanan Nair, Asokan, Arun Perigottu, Sona, Cherthala Lalitha and Valsala Menon. Saloo George cranks the camera.

Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma’s lyrics and Mohan Sithara’s music, however, do little to sustain the viewer’s interest. Swarnam has been produced by Soman Pallad for Jyothigamaya.

G. Jayakumar

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