Ashwamedham

This is a Malayalam language film starring Sheela, Sathyan, Madhu and Prem Nazir.

The film is socially very important and apt for the times it was released in. The film gives a lot of practical information about leprosy. It creates awareness that it is curable and thus giving good confidence and hope to the viewers. Being a multi starrer, it was surely watched by many thus enlightening them about the disease and clearing superstitions around it. The film is well woven into a story where a woman's marriage plans goes awry when she is diagnosed with Leprosy.

What is abhorrable in the film is that it's openly a Christian propaganda film and an anti-Hindu film. It openly shows that all superstitions have their root in Hindu customs and religious practitioners. While Christian pastors are shown to be modern and well aware of science.

The performances by the lead and support cast including Adoor Bhasi, Sukumari, Bahadur etc are great. Sathyan and Sheela stand out in their roles. Prem Nazir and especially Madhu do well with their grey / pragmatic character shades.

Worth a watch - use it for awareness of the illness but detest it for being a religious propaganda film.

If you are a Sathyan fan, see this one. His performance is natural. I always had an feeling that his talent, as an actor, was never fully explored. He just had 'Odayil Ninnu', 'Kadalppaalam' and few other movies to his credit. Though i remain in doubt about A.Vicent's directing abilities. His career graph as a director may have been very successful, but there is hardly any movie worth remembering, except 'Bhargaveenilayam', 'Murappennu' or 'Nagarame Nandhi'. He was without any doubt multi-talented, but his later directorial efforts, though successful, remained mediocre.

This movie also has Prem Nazir's one of the very few fine performances. As always though, he is loud, yet believable. He and Sathyan has chemistry, that works. Thoppil Bhasi's script is okay, but the main attraction remains Sathyan, a doctor and a simpleton! 7 out of 10.