Sankaran is a poor railway gangman.

His family comprises wife Sarojini (Sreekala), son Ramu (Jayasurya) and daughter Minikutty.

Sankaran is usually drunk. Once he does not even notice an approaching train and it almost knocks him down.

This was a rude shock to him. Soon, he begins to have hallucinations of his late maternal uncle who had committed suicide.

Sarojini brushes aside his arguments and attributes them to his drinking habit. The two do not get along well.

In no time Sankaran, who pins all his hopes on Ramu paying off his debts, shows violent traits. The family leaves him at a lunatic asylum. A junior doctor (Anoop Menon) finds that Sankaran is suffering from schizophrenia.

Sankaran comes to know from the doctor that he could be cured.

He writes many letters to Ramu, but there is no response.

Meanwhile, Sankaran suffers a stroke, and later loses his eyesight. He still hopes that his son will come to see him…

More than the script — written by Dennis Joseph — what attracts the viewer is Innocent’s metamorphosis in a serious role.

He has superbly emoted the plight of a disturbed mind. Anoop Menon and Jayasurya do justice to their roles.

The cast includes Meera Nandan, Jaganathan, Vijayaraghavan and Balachandran Chullikkad. Cameraman Vinod Illampally’s close-up shots are brilliant. Shibu Chakravarthy’s songs sync with the theme of the movie. S.P.Venkitesh scores the music and Madhu Balakrishnan is the singer.

Patham Nilayile Theevandi, produced by Jose Thomas for Visual Dreams, is worth watching.

G. Jayakumar

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail