Vaishali

An untold story from Ramayana, Great Epic. Lomapada King ,a friend of Dasharadha Maharaj, is in a big dilemma. Due to a curse from a Hindu Brahmin( which is considered as a grave mistake) the country is facing a heavy scarce.King tried whatever he could.In the end his Rajaguru comes up with the solution that a young Brahmin named Rishyashrungan, who doesn't know what a female is, should do a yaga(rituals) to help the country.Vaishali was appointed for that task.The movie talks about the tragic story of her and her mother.

A untold story within the Great Epic even, did a miracle in the Silver screen. The strong story line and dialogs made the movie an odd one in the Malayalam movie industry.

The story of Rishyasringa is known to all.

This movie explores one aspect of his life .

Both the main actors are not from Malayalam industry for some reason . Both fit in their roles easily . Sanjay Mitra looks raw and innocent as some one who has not seen women at all. He is kept away from society and family life by his father who was tricked by an apsara after child birth . He had to bring his son all by himself and resents the entire female clan .

Suparna is the king's concubine's only daughter. As expected they live outside the main town .

Her mother Geeta takes good care of her and keeps stalling her entry into her family profession.

Upon the kings request and his promise that he will recognise paternity to her daughter she accepts that Vaishali will go and lure Rishyasringa to the city . There have been no rains for a long time and only upon his entry and penance ,rains can come from above .

He is a pure soul who has not indulged in any sinful activities so far.

A large part of the movie is about his Vaishali slowly entices him and brings him to the capital city .

In this process she too falls in love with him. He too reciprocates after the initial hesitation and finally comes to the capital city .

Once the rituals are completed strictly, rains lash the kingdom to every one's delight Sadly the king goes back on his word and gets his other legitimate daughter married to this new young sage .

A shocked Geeta dies in a stampede . Suparna is left to fend for herself . The last scene sees her confused and drenched in the lashing rains which she herself was responsible to bring to this parched kingdom.

Veteran Geeta looks resplendent as a retired courtesan , a concerned mother who follows her daughter with some of her friends to the hills and forests and guides her at every stage .

Suparna is perfect as a lovelorn girl who is used to men's gaze from day one then as some one who has fallen in love with this innocent boy sage , as some one waiting to get married to him as her dream and finally as some one broken who has been abandoned by her own father who goes back on his promise .

Venu comes in an important role as the king's priest .The sneering victorious sly smile he gives when Rishyasringa returns back to the town with the courtesans is worth mentioning . He has a big hand in tricking Geeta .

He is not happy with Vaishali and Geeta as his own son has been spending too much time with them . He blames Geeta and her clan for enticing young boys . He instigates the king to marry off his second daughter to Rishyasringa citing lineage .

Starting from the unique design of the boat which takes Vaishali to the forests to the voices and sounds of low pitch mantras over lapping during the fire ritual in the end , every single thing is perfect .

Over all a fine movie . Shot in lush green locales with hummable songs , its a family fare .