Yavanika

The movie is not actually an 'investigative' one. There is hardly any investigation in the first part of the movie, there are no great twists and is kind of slow. Don't watch it if you are impatient.

That being said, watch it for character development and for realism. Everything is in the right proportion in the movie. There are just one or two songs, but they are memorable ones. Alcoholism and the problems caused by it is the main theme in Yavanika, but K.G. George has seen to it that the movie does not look like a sermon from a preacher.

Bharath Gopi's acting is excellent and realistic, even when we dislike his on-screen persona.

It was like a time-machine for me. The movie was really smart (although it might seem a bit cliche), it upheld the charm throughout. I keep watching it every few years. It's a treat!

As it says in the trivia, I'm so close to the Rashomon effect in this film. The narrative process is similar to Rashomon. The movie is going so slowly and the interrogation sequence is a little bit longer because each one in that drama camp should have to be questioned. The editing technique was the scene cut seems astonished to me because at that time the director gave a sense of magical making along with that scene. That two cuts remembers me of many new films which that editing pattern as a fresh one. A nice thriller to watch. Yavanika.

Not much of a mystery for today's viewer. Within 15 minutes of the start of the movie, you can come up with an educated guess who the murderer is, by the obvious facial expressions and body language of the characters. Mammotty shows up almost half way through the movie as a police investigator. 1982 was still early days for him so his powerful on screen presence that we are use to today, wasn't present back in the days, he was just a competent actor. Bharath Gopi plays a despicable womaniser and rapist. The use of Rashomon effect was a creative touch that could be appreciated. Overall just a straight forward story with not much twists or turn.

This is a well crafted movie with memorable characters. It easily stands the test of time because the acting, direction and production values are all quite comparable to today's Malayalam movies. Of course Gopi is the standout but Venu, Jalaja, Mammootty and even Ashokan as the rebellious son all play their parts well.

The other reviewer criticises this for not being a true murder mystery, but I have to differ on two counts- the murderer isn't all that obvious and the movie really aspires to be more than a mere murder story. The drama troupe and the interactions of the varied characters, the social drama of the plight of the poor woman with 3 daughters, all are well portrayed.