Yavanika

CountryIndiaLanguageMalayalam

Yavanika (transl. The Curtain) is a 1982 Indian Malayalam-language mystery thriller film written and directed by K. G. George. It stars Bharath Gopi, Mammootty, Nedumudi Venu, and Jalaja.^[1][2][3] Yavanika is one of George's most celebrated films; it received wide critical acclaim^[4][5] and is regarded by critics as a masterpiece of Malayalam cinema.^[6][7][8]

Vakkachan, a critically acclaimed theatre director, runs his drama company, Bhavana Theatres. He and his theatre troupe are preparing to drive to a late-night show. One of the performers, Kollappally, arrives late, claiming he had lost his keys.

On the way, they pick up Rohini, another performer. Vakkachan questions Rohini about the troupe's tabla player, Ayyappan, with whom she lives. Rohini says she is unaware of his whereabouts and that he had not returned home the previous night. Ayyappan does not turn up for the show.

Two weeks later, Vakkachan reports Ayyappan as missing. CI Jacob Eeraly takes up the investigation and interrogates the troupe members individually. During these interrogations, each member tells their own story of Ayyappan's unfaithful nature, drunkenness, and violent tendencies. Rohini shares that she is living with Ayyappan against her will. The inspector also discovers that Ayyappan had forcefully snatched—and later sold—a pair of earrings Rohini had bought as a wedding gift for her sister.

A month later, Ayyappan's body—stabbed with a broken glass bottle—and a key chain with the engravings "J.K." are recovered from a paddy field midway between the theatre and Rohini's house. Jacob suspects the initials represent "Joseph Kollappally" and quietly arrests Kollappally after his theatre performance. Kollappally confesses to the murder, but his confession does not entirely convince the inspector. The inspector investigates further and retrieves a shard of the glass bottle used as the murder weapon from Rohini's house.

The next day, the troupe anxiously awaits Kollappally to join them for a big show, unaware of his arrest. The police plan to use Kollappally as a ploy to identify Rohini's role in the murder and allow him to phone the troupe to inform them that he will perform in the show. Kollappally arrives late to the venue and tells Rohini backstage that he has been arrested for murder. Rohini, in a panic, takes the stage and publicly admits to killing Ayyappan.

Rohini confesses the murder to the police and tells them her motive: after Ayyappan had sold her earrings, he taunted Rohini, saying he would trap her sister for his pleasure and ruin her life—as he did to Rohini. His taunts angered her, and she stabbed him. She sought Kollapally's help, and he hid the body in the paddy field.

Following her confession, Rohini and Kollapally are taken into custody by the police. The rest of the troupe silently boards their bus and departs from the scene.

• Bharath Gopi as Ayyappan, a tabla player and drunkard
• Nedumudi Venu as Balagopalan
• Jalaja as Rohini, the regular female lead role in the plays
• Thilakan as Vakkachan, a critically acclaimed theatre director
• Mammootty as CI Jacob Eeraly, the police officer in charge of the investigation
• Venu Nagavalli as Joseph Kollapally
• Jagathi Sreekumar as Varunan
• Vijayavani as Molly, Jacob Eeraly's wife
• Thodupuzha Vasanthi as Rajamma
• Sreenivasan as Chellapan
• Ashokan as Vishnu, Ayyappan's son
• Mohan Jose as Danny
• Kuttyedathi Vilasini as Ammini

The film uses the Rashomon effect, a storytelling technique in which different characters provide contradictory interpretations or recollections of the same event.

George comments on the film's development: "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."^[4]

The entire shoot was in the suburbs of Vattiyoorkavu in Thiruvananthapuram.^[4]

The film was released in four theatres. The response was moderate for the first week, but it later picked up and became both commercial and critical success.^[4][8][9] Yavanika was released along with Ivan Oru Simham (1982), starring Prem Nazir, but surpassed its box office collection.^[10] Film critic Kozhikodan included Yavanika on his list of the ten best Malayalam movies of all time.^[11] Premlal of The Cue felt that "Yavanika adhered to the characteristics of mainstream cinema and opened the way for broad possibilities to embrace the theme and characters with complexity, approaching them philosophically and psychologically."^[6]

Yavanika won three awards at the 1982 Kerala State Film Awards:^[12]

• Best Film (shared with Marmaram (1982) directed by Bharathan)
• Best Screenplay – S. L. Puram Sadanandan, K. G. George
• Second Best Actor –Thilakan

The film won one award at the 1982 Kerala Film Critics Association Awards:^[13]

• Second Best Actor – Mammootty

The music was composed by M. B. Sreenivasan.

No.	Song	Singers	Lyricist	Length
1	"Bharatha Muniyoru Kalam Varachu"	K. J. Yesudas and Selma George	O. N. V. Kurup	4:34
2	"Chembaka Pushpa"	K. J. Yesudas	O. N. V. Kurup	3:57
3	"Machaanethedi"	Selma George	M. B. Sreenivasan	1:37
4	"Mizhikalil Nirakathiraayi"	K. J. Yesudas	O. N. V. Kurup	3:26

• Yavanika at IMDb