Nalu Pennungal - Adoor Gopalakrishnan

Adoor Gopalakrishnan's new movie is a collection of 4 small movies about women. As the name suggests, the movie is about women from different facts of life. Adapted from different short stories by the famous Malayalam writer, Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, set in the '20s , this films looks at the life and the incidents of four women dispassionately.

"Vesya" ( the prostitute ) is arrested by the police for adultery and is being questioned in the court. She and her new husband could not prove to the court that they are married, as there is no evidence. They have no house , sleep in the veranda of the shops, they have no family , they do not know who their parents are.. The only thing they can tell the authorities that they are married and are husband and wife.

"Kanyaka" ( the virgin ) is the story of a girl married to the neighbouring village, only to be left back in her house by the broom after the initial phases of the marriage and the "welcome feast" by the relatives.

"Chinnuamma" ( the housewife) is about a middle aged lady without any children and the attempt by her erstwhile friend or classmate to lure her into a relationship with him. It ends with a definitive stand by her asking him to leave.

"Nityakanyaka" ( the spinster ) is about the elder sister of the house, unable to get married and her coming to terms with that. All the people who come home to see her, are demanding her sisters and she remain a spinster despite the effort of her family.

While this movie is not a full length feature film ( a collection of 4 independent movies) , all the movies are connected by a single theme. They are all talk about the women in the social structure and their effort to come out of the domination by taking a definite stand on issues pertaining to them. Very strong and subtle in emotions , but very convincing in the end. Apart from a few places ( where I find it too mechanical ) all the actors have performed brilliantly , to the scope of the movie , against their commercial stardom.

Though this is not his best movie so far, Sri Adoor Gopalakrishnan maintained his high standards of film making by some good visuals and background score.