Anubhavangal Palichhakal: Can one say that this was a wonderful movie? The answer would belie the sense of the word. It was a theme of horrible dimensions. The portrayal was divine and also heartrending. The very name of the film bespeaks the experience: Withering endeavours. Well, I am not sure if the translation is apt. One can also use such terms as Cataclysmic Experiences, The word Futile can also be used.  

It is a pain that many extraordinary persons on grand ventures had experienced, the disloyalty of the follower/spouse/confident etc. Here it is the infidelity of the spouse. Many grand personages have been saddled with undeserving consorts, who neither understand nor take pain to understand the grand schemes on which her husband is working on. The pain of betrayal by cheap confidants is great, and of catastrophic affect. The tragedy of illustrious persons being held hostage by extremely commonplace spouses!!!

The theme is of epic proportions and there are many insights to be garnered from the terrific scenes here. For one thing, the emptiness of the grand illusion called the Universal Brotherhood of the Working Class; a more or less unworkable theme in a nation functioning on extreme feudal languages, wherein everyone stands out selfishly for himself and himself alone, crushing all others in the desperate scramble to arrive at the supreme heights of the feudal language usages.

The second item for notice is the terribleness faced by a husband who is actively involved in a fight against a powerful enemy, the police force, when he is told of the possible infidelity of his wife. The sudden knowledge that one of his powerful props has fallen down. The desperation, the terror, the pandemonium in the mind, the absolute breakdown of carefully laid down plans, and the utter senseless of the whole happenings, wherein an irresponsible women is holding the strings and rattling it.

The third theme is the horrify breakdown of the innate instinct of survival; as evident when the protagonist hesitates and ponders over handing himself over to the police. A solitary moment of pardonable mental vulnerability!!

The fourth theme is the Police Station, the Indian Police Station, wherein Indians scarcely get a decent behaviour. Once inside the police hands, it is literally like being in the hands of primitive savages, who gnaw at the very basic nobility of the human soul.

The fifth theme is that of the scenes from old Ernakulam. Persons who know Ernakulam may be able to identify the places, and find some discrepancy in the distances featured.

Oh, Ye, Prophesiers, say, Is radiant hope far away! Is radiant daybreak far away!! Cataclysmic changes in the golden red soils of the early dawn; the crashing of the towering pillars of faith, in the windstorm; powerless on the waysides, stands Godhood; dharma needhis, the supreme codes of righteousness, are in untroubled musings, in their hermitage.

In the Bharatha battlefields, wherein the histories are to be rewritten, the dazzling war chariot led by the young cattle boy is falling apart, in the bloody soil. In this terrible Kurushethara land, Arjuna stands alone, defenceless, without weapons! On their pyres, the noble philosophies are kindling.

The scene is that of a man totally broken down; his mind in fire, and his goals in doubt. Vayalars words are of resounding quality, and Devarajans music is also above reproach. The dark scenery is in total sync with the tragic theme. The film director also deserves praise.