Vasthavam

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Vaastham (2006) is director Padmakumar's third film with the Keralite actor Prithviraj. This time his story is of a youth who rose to power from a background immersed in family chaos and economic crisis.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Raghavan Master was the scion of a high Namboothiri family and an ardent communist. Party matters came before everything else for him. He sold or gave away much of his ancestral property for the sake of the party. All that is left now is the ancestral home, devoid of the fame and fortune it once had.

Raghavan Master has four nubile daughters. Balachandran Adig (Prithwiraj) is his only son. He has the burden of looking after the family. His father's lack of responsibility towards the family and the devoting of his entire life for the party have made Balachandran hate politics.

He knows the difficulties involved in bringing the family back from the brink and in marrying off his sisters. He adopts a very practical approach to life.

His eldest sister Shobha does some tailoring and her meager earning is what there is to keep hunger at bay. His second sister Shubha walks out with Adivasi leader Sreedharan, causing irreparable damage to the family reputation.

His mother dies, adding to his woes. To top it all circumstances compel him to forget his murappennu and childhood playmate Sumitra and in favour of Surabhi.

It is at this juncture that he lands a job at the Secretariat. Vaasthavam traces his growth from a lowly clerk to a position where he holds the reins of the administration of the State.

Spoilers end here.

The film with a gripping story line provided by Babu Janardanan, features Prithviraj as Balachandran .On the acting front, Padmakumar extracts excellent performance from all the actors. Prithviraj's performance has to be seen to be believed as the actor has improved leaps and bounds into a matured actor with excellent dialogue delivery and body language. Jagathy as Unnithan Asan has again carved out a feast out of little, and is the loadstar all through the first half. All the three heroines, Kavya as Sumithra, Samvrutha as Surabhi and Sindhu Menon as Vimala has author backed up roles, each one standing different from the other, quite rare in Malayalam now a days. Kavya is the most likable as she conveys all her emotions through her large expressive eyes. Jagadeesh as a dummy minister Shibu Vattappara also stands out with his performance after a long time. All the supporting cast like Murali, Sona Nair, Madhupaal, Salimkumar and Meghanathan are impressive.

The film has a few good songs tuned by Alex Paul which are melodious and soothing. On the whole it is a feel good entertainer recommended for people who care for a bit for realism. The rest of the crew have also delivered impressive outputs and director has to be credited for making no compromises as the film moves at deliberate slow pace, as demanded by the plot .The camerawork of Manoj Pillai is pleasing. Padmakumar has tried to show his style with a solid and straightforward plot with an emotional core. Director deserves distinction marks for handling the subject with such conviction. Every vital point in the story has been handled expertly by the storyteller, besides working hard on the performances of the six principal characters. .