Yavanika (1982)

Language: Malayalam

Director – K.G George

Writer: K.G George, S.L. Puram Sadanandan

Cast:  Bharath Gopi, Mammootty, Asokan, Nedumudi Venu, Jalaja, Thilakan, Venu Nagavalli

Genre: Thriller

IMDb : Yavanika (1982)

Streaming on Disney+ Hostar.

1980, the year that changed the face of conventional toys. Yes, I’m talking about the entry of the Rubik’s cube. The only toy that wins everyone’s heart. Period. “Old wine and friends improve with age” 

Exactly, the new face of Malayalam film industry was started by these 3 geniuses K.G George, Bharathan and Padmarajan. K.G George started with a commercially successful movie “Swapnadanam”. From then onwards, the expectations of the Malayalam film audiences changed. That was the golden era of Malayalam industry, or it rather started a New Generation of Cinema for the Malayalam Film Industry is what I would like to think. Yavanika is an example, crime thriller placed in the amidst theatre which was prominent at that time. Vakachan(Thilakan) proprietor of Bhavana theatres opens the scene in a rush to assemble all the actors for today’s show. The way each dialogue is written to create the ambience of a crime thriller is beautiful, right from the beginning. Whatever genre we place movies, everything is just fantasy written in a piece of paper like the name of the theatre: “Bhavana”.

The movie revolves around the missing man Aiyyapan(leading Tabalist). K.G George as director/writer has taken care of bringing this Aiyyapan a late entry and tries to communicate with the audience by the descriptions that rest of the characters tells about him (Rashomon effect). Great actor Bharath Gopi portrays Aiyyapan. In each frame, he was living as the character. Till then the Malayalee audience has never seen such a kind of treatment for a mainstream movie. Aiyyapan is a grey shade character who is very fond of women and drinking. He introduces a new face to the theatre Rohini (Jalaja) to the theatre camp. Rohini becomes Aiyyapan’s mistress. The Missing case of Aiyyapan is investigated by Sub-inspector Jacob Eeraly (Mamooty). The way the team carries out the interrogation is outstanding. At each point of the investigation, the director throws different bait to the audience. He handles each frame filled with different characters, in a very subtle but purposeful manner. Slowly after a long investigation, everything comes to an end. Like the film’s title “Yavanika”, finally we get to know the truth that hides behind the curtain. We need to think twice about the way we celebrate movies like Drishyam. If we carefully compare both movies regardlessly, Yavanika comes out on top.

Verdict: 6/7 stars