Oridathu
Encyclopedia
Oridathu is an India
n Malayalam satirical drama film
written and directed by G. Aravindan
. Nedumudi Venu
, Sreenivasan, Thilakan
, Vineeth
, Krishnankutty Nair, Chandran Nair and Soorya form the cast. The story is about the problems faced by the people of a hamlet where electricity in unavailable, when electric supply finally reaches there. The film reaches a conclusion that life is better without electricity. The indefinability of the human mind is the theme of the film. Though the film is discussing a serious issue, the treatment of it is very simplistic. Humour and intensity characterise the film that is set in the mid-fifties. The film is different from many of Aravindan's earlier works in that it deals with a broad range of characters and lacks a clear-cut linear story. It became a major critical success and earned the best director awards for Aravindan at state and national film awards.
landlord, is determined to bring the benefits of electricity to this backward place.
As the story unfolds, it introduces us to an array of characters in the village...the Communist tailor given to fierry speeches, laced with quotations; the landlord's bossy manager; Kuttan, the odd job man, hitching his star to the influential newcomers; the wise school teacher, the adoloscent boy and girl; the braggarl overseer... Families and groups are deftly sketched with a cartoonist's sharp eye. Each group has its own story to tell, in self-contained episodes that are all interrelated. The vela or the festival of the local temple is a symbol of the harmony that prevailed in the village in those pre-electricity days.
After the executive engineer from the Electricity Department has surveyed the place with becoming solemnity, there follows a flurry of activity. The overseer, flatteringly called engineer by the villagers who don't know the distinction, has an eye for the girls. Kuttan, the man for all jobs, becomes the overseer's faithful servitor. He induces the girl he hopes to marry to join the electricity workforce. A doctor following in the wake of electricity sets up a dispensary in the village. Kuttan decides he is a more prestigious master to serve.
The village soon stops treating the overseer with awe. He displays a taste for the arts and theatriclas, forms an amateur group and earnestly begins rehearsing for a romantic play about separated lovers. Young Jose plays the heroine's role. Jose is a bright, ambitious boy who plans to leave the village to work outside Kerala, once the coming festival is over.
The disenchantment with electricity is gradual. The location of the electric pole makes old friends and neighbours fall out. There are dire omens of death. At first, cows are electrocuted atop the wire, then a cow fallen in a huddle. Death also comes to Kuttan's girlfriend who is pregnant. Kuttan cannot afford to support her, and abortion seems the only way out. Next morning, her dead body is found in the temple pond. The doctor, who has finalised marriage negotiations with the manager's daughter is unmasked - as a quack and a would-be bigamist to boot. Kuttan's simple trust is betrayed by the overseer who seduces his sister.
Before the larger calamity strikes, there is a symbolic burial of the beautiful temple lamppost, whose wick was ceremonially lit every evening. Its gentle glow has now been replaced by harsh electric glare. The story moves inexorably to its culmination. At the temple festival every year, Kuttan traditionally dons the vestments of the Kali
, the avenging goddess. He decides to wreak vengeance on the overseer who he sees as the root cause of all calamities in the village. But in the clash, it is young Jose, who gets electrocuted. The cry of the innocent victim is drowned by the pyrotechnical dazzle of the festival fireworks, which are sparked off in the melee — a parable of nuclear holocaust. The frame freezes on a parachuting mannikin headed for the earth, arms outsretcged as if in crucifixion.
The film is complex in that it has many characters and many incidents and therefore does not have a single motif. Hence, Aravindan had to use a number of shots in the film. The usual type of music is also absent. Instead, the sounds of the incidents are used to the maximum. In the film, different characters speak different dialects of Malayalam, for example the villagers speak pure Valluvanadan Malayalam of South Malabar, the overseer uses the Trivandrum Malayalam the fake Doctor uses Travancore Malayalam etc.
(The Circus Tent, 1978) and his cartoon series Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum
(The Small Man and the Big World). Thampu, shot in black and white in a direct documentary mode, dealt with the roving street circus of Kerala. Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum, published in Mathrubhumi
for several years, dealt with the adventures of the central characters Ramu and Guruji, mingled with political and social satires. The theme of Oridathu demanded a caricature tretment so Aravindan made it that way. The film is often described as "Ambiguous Humour Confronted by Modernisation". Aravindan says that the film is not against modernisation. In an interview, the director said, "My film is not against modernisation. I was trying to look at the changes taking place in the life of the people and the village. I still fear one day that technology will take over. I was born in a small village and upto the age of ten I hadn't seen the electricity. I still remember with nostalgia those times, when people moved through the night with burning flares. When electricity came, they went out".
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n Malayalam satirical drama film
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by G. Aravindan
G. Aravindan
Govindan Aravindan who was popularly known as G. Aravindan was a national award winning film director, screenwriter, musician and cartoonist from Kerala, India. He was known for his unorthodox way of film-making; he changed his cinematic forms consistently and experimented in story telling without...
. Nedumudi Venu
Nedumudi Venu
Nedumudi Venu is a popular Malayalam film actor from Kerala, India. He has also written screenplays and has directed one film.- Early life :...
, Sreenivasan, Thilakan
Thilakan
Surendranatha Thilakan , known mononymously as Thilakan, is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema and theatre. He was awarded Padma Shri on 25 January 2009.- Theatre:...
, Vineeth
Vineeth
Vineeth is an Indian film actor and classical dancer who has acted in several well received films in his native Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. He studied in Good Shepherd Public School, Ooty, and at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Thalassery.Vineeth is nephew of the famous Travancore...
, Krishnankutty Nair, Chandran Nair and Soorya form the cast. The story is about the problems faced by the people of a hamlet where electricity in unavailable, when electric supply finally reaches there. The film reaches a conclusion that life is better without electricity. The indefinability of the human mind is the theme of the film. Though the film is discussing a serious issue, the treatment of it is very simplistic. Humour and intensity characterise the film that is set in the mid-fifties. The film is different from many of Aravindan's earlier works in that it deals with a broad range of characters and lacks a clear-cut linear story. It became a major critical success and earned the best director awards for Aravindan at state and national film awards.
Plot
The time is the mid-fifties, when the Indian states were being reorganised. The place is a remote village in Kerala. There is a palpable hum of excitement as the village Panchayath, led by the BrahminBrahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
landlord, is determined to bring the benefits of electricity to this backward place.
As the story unfolds, it introduces us to an array of characters in the village...the Communist tailor given to fierry speeches, laced with quotations; the landlord's bossy manager; Kuttan, the odd job man, hitching his star to the influential newcomers; the wise school teacher, the adoloscent boy and girl; the braggarl overseer... Families and groups are deftly sketched with a cartoonist's sharp eye. Each group has its own story to tell, in self-contained episodes that are all interrelated. The vela or the festival of the local temple is a symbol of the harmony that prevailed in the village in those pre-electricity days.
After the executive engineer from the Electricity Department has surveyed the place with becoming solemnity, there follows a flurry of activity. The overseer, flatteringly called engineer by the villagers who don't know the distinction, has an eye for the girls. Kuttan, the man for all jobs, becomes the overseer's faithful servitor. He induces the girl he hopes to marry to join the electricity workforce. A doctor following in the wake of electricity sets up a dispensary in the village. Kuttan decides he is a more prestigious master to serve.
The village soon stops treating the overseer with awe. He displays a taste for the arts and theatriclas, forms an amateur group and earnestly begins rehearsing for a romantic play about separated lovers. Young Jose plays the heroine's role. Jose is a bright, ambitious boy who plans to leave the village to work outside Kerala, once the coming festival is over.
The disenchantment with electricity is gradual. The location of the electric pole makes old friends and neighbours fall out. There are dire omens of death. At first, cows are electrocuted atop the wire, then a cow fallen in a huddle. Death also comes to Kuttan's girlfriend who is pregnant. Kuttan cannot afford to support her, and abortion seems the only way out. Next morning, her dead body is found in the temple pond. The doctor, who has finalised marriage negotiations with the manager's daughter is unmasked - as a quack and a would-be bigamist to boot. Kuttan's simple trust is betrayed by the overseer who seduces his sister.
Before the larger calamity strikes, there is a symbolic burial of the beautiful temple lamppost, whose wick was ceremonially lit every evening. Its gentle glow has now been replaced by harsh electric glare. The story moves inexorably to its culmination. At the temple festival every year, Kuttan traditionally dons the vestments of the Kali
Kali
' , also known as ' , is the Hindu goddess associated with power, shakti. The name Kali comes from kāla, which means black, time, death, lord of death, Shiva. Kali means "the black one". Since Shiva is called Kāla - the eternal time, Kālī, his consort, also means "Time" or "Death" . Hence, Kāli is...
, the avenging goddess. He decides to wreak vengeance on the overseer who he sees as the root cause of all calamities in the village. But in the clash, it is young Jose, who gets electrocuted. The cry of the innocent victim is drowned by the pyrotechnical dazzle of the festival fireworks, which are sparked off in the melee — a parable of nuclear holocaust. The frame freezes on a parachuting mannikin headed for the earth, arms outsretcged as if in crucifixion.
Cast
- Nedumudi VenuNedumudi VenuNedumudi Venu is a popular Malayalam film actor from Kerala, India. He has also written screenplays and has directed one film.- Early life :...
as Sundaresan, the electrical overseer - Sreenivasan as Kuttan
- ThilakanThilakanSurendranatha Thilakan , known mononymously as Thilakan, is an Indian actor who works in Malayalam cinema and theatre. He was awarded Padma Shri on 25 January 2009.- Theatre:...
as Manager - VineethVineethVineeth is an Indian film actor and classical dancer who has acted in several well received films in his native Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films. He studied in Good Shepherd Public School, Ooty, and at St. Joseph's Boys' High School, Thalassery.Vineeth is nephew of the famous Travancore...
as Jose - Krishnankutty Nair as Comrade
- Chandran Nair as School teacher
- Soorya as Kuttan's girlfriend
Themes
The indefinability of the human mind is the theme of the film. The theme is introduced by depicting the story of electrification of a village and the changes this introduces in the village. Unlike Aravindan's previous films, humour and intensity characterise Oridathu. When asked about this deviation, Aravindan stated, "There is an element of caricature in all the characters. A little exaggeration and lot of humour was consciously introduced to make effective the last sequence, which is the explosion. In fact the whole film moves towards the climax — the clash on the day of the festival and the breaking out of the fire."The film is complex in that it has many characters and many incidents and therefore does not have a single motif. Hence, Aravindan had to use a number of shots in the film. The usual type of music is also absent. Instead, the sounds of the incidents are used to the maximum. In the film, different characters speak different dialects of Malayalam, for example the villagers speak pure Valluvanadan Malayalam of South Malabar, the overseer uses the Trivandrum Malayalam the fake Doctor uses Travancore Malayalam etc.
Development
Oridathu can be seen as a continuation of Aravindan's earlier film ThampuThampu
Thampu is a highly acclaimed Malayalam film written and directed by G. Aravindan. Bharath Gopi, Nedumudi Venu, V. K. Sriraman, Jalaja the artistes of the Great Chitra Circus form the cast. The film deals with the roving street circus of Kerala. It is shot in black and white in a direct documentary...
(The Circus Tent, 1978) and his cartoon series Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum
Cheriya manushyarum valiya lokavum
Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum is a cartoon by the film director G. Aravindan. The serial cartoon was published in the last page of Malayalam weekly, Mathrubhumi in the 1960s and 70s....
(The Small Man and the Big World). Thampu, shot in black and white in a direct documentary mode, dealt with the roving street circus of Kerala. Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum, published in Mathrubhumi
Mathrubhumi
Mathrubhumi is a Malayalam language newspaper that is published from Kerala, India. Mathrubhumi was founded by K. P. Kesava Menon, an active volunteer in the Indian freedom struggle against the British.-History:...
for several years, dealt with the adventures of the central characters Ramu and Guruji, mingled with political and social satires. The theme of Oridathu demanded a caricature tretment so Aravindan made it that way. The film is often described as "Ambiguous Humour Confronted by Modernisation". Aravindan says that the film is not against modernisation. In an interview, the director said, "My film is not against modernisation. I was trying to look at the changes taking place in the life of the people and the village. I still fear one day that technology will take over. I was born in a small village and upto the age of ten I hadn't seen the electricity. I still remember with nostalgia those times, when people moved through the night with burning flares. When electricity came, they went out".
Title
The various alternative English titles of the film are Once Upon a Place, ... And There Was a Village, There Was a Village, At a Place, Some Place, and A Village, Somewhere.Major awards
- National Film Award for Best Direction
- Kerala State Film Award for Best FilmKerala State Film Award for Best FilmThe Kerala State Film Award for Best Film winners:- References :* * Specific...
- Kerala State Film Award for Best DirectorKerala State Film Award for Best DirectorThe Kerala State Film Award for Best Director winners:-References:**...