Yavanika

Yavanika (English: When the Curtain Falls) is a 1982 Indian Malayalam mystery thriller film co-written and directed by K. G. George and starring Bharath Gopi, Mammootty and Jalaja.^[1][2][3] The film explores backstage drama of a travelling drama group. The plot is structured around the search for an unpopular tabla player of the troupe who suddenly disappears.

The film received wide critical acclaim and some critics even consider it as one of the greatest mystery thrillers ever made.^[4] It stands out as an aesthetic and commercially successful film of the 1980s. It won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Film. It was one of the first notable films of Mammootty. He won the Kerala Film Critics Awards for Best Supporting Actor, for his portrayal of Circle Inspector Jacob Eeraly. Thilakan established himself as an actor and got his first state award in 1982 for his role as Manager Vakkachan.

Plot

The plot is structured around the search for a missing infamous tabla player of a touring drama group. Investigation of members of the drama group reveals complicated sexual rivalries and internal conflicts within the group, yielding several possible suspects to the conspiracy.

Circle Inspector Jacob Eerally (Mammootty), investigates the missing tabla player, Aiyappan (Bharath Gopi), a raging alcoholic and a criminal.

Jalaja plays Aiyappan's second wife and Ashokan plays his rebel son. Other members of the theatre group are memorable characters Balagopalan (Nedumudi Venu), Varunan (Jagathy Sreekumar) and many more.

Cast

• Bharath Gopi as Tablist Aiyappan
• Mammootty as Jacob Eeraly
• Jalaja as Rohini
• Venu Nagavalli as Joseph Kollapally
• Ashokan as Vishnu
• Thilakan as Vakkachan
• Jagathi Sreekumar as Varunan
• Nedumudi Venu as Balagopalan
• Mohan Jose
• Thodupuzha Vasanthi
• Kuttyedathi Vilasini
• Sreenivasan as Chellapan

Production

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." George had the screenplay ready but wanted someone with theatre experience to help him with the dialogues. George first met K. T. Mohammed with this request. He agreed but for various reasons could not get to work on it. Since the shooting dates had to be postponed as the dialogues were not ready, George took it to S. L. Puram Sadanandan who agreed to do it.^[4]

To play the tabla player in the film, Gopi learnt the instrument. He believed that before facing the camera, an actor should know what he is going to perform.^[5] The entire shoot was in the suburbs of Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram. The theatre, the house to which Ayyappan brings Rohini, were all located nearby.^[4]

Release and reception

The film released in four theatres. For the first week the response was lukewarm. Perhaps this had something to do with George's reputation as a "new wave" director, who had with his previous films like Swapnadanam, Mela and Kolangal made a strong presence in the new cinema movement. But soon word spread like wildfire. Shedding off the sluggish start, Yavanika went on to become a huge box office hit.^[4][6][7][8] Yavanika released along with the Prem Nazir-starrer Ivanoru Simham but still it managed to surpass the superstar film's box office collection.^[9]

Soundtrack

The music was composed by MB Sreenivasan and lyrics was written by ONV Kurup and MB Sreenivasan.

References

External links

• Yavanika at the Internet Movie Database