''Aaroodam'' is a 1983 Indian

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

film, directed by

I. V. Sasi Irruppam Veedu Sasidaran (28 March 1947 – 24 October 2017), better known as I. V. Sasi, was an Indian film director who made over 110 films predominantly in Malayalam, in addition to Tamil and Hindi languages. In 2015, he was awarded the J. ...

and produced by Rosamma George. The film stars

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

, Seema and

Adoor Bhasi K. Bhaskaran Nair (1 March 1929 – 29 March 1990), known by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director from Kerala. Adoor Bhasi was almost always cast as the man who stands next to the hero. His hilarious actions and role ...

in prominent roles. The film has musical score by

Shyam Shyam is a name of Krishna and an Indian masculine given name and surname. Notable people with this name include: ;Shyam *Shyam (actor), Indian Hindi film actor *Shyam (composer), an Indian music composer from Kerala * Shyam Benegal, Indian film di ...

. The film won the

Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration The Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organization set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of ...

in 1983.

Plot

Das returns to his native village in Kerala with his wife Seetha and son Rajesh, leaving behind his high-profile Job in Bombay, much to the dislike of his wife who is used to the conveniences and luxuries of the city. She keeps cribbing about the difficulties of village life and the lack of basic amenities and facilities there. Das quit his job due to the high pressure and tension it gave him because of his ideological stands, something about which he opens to Gopalan Nair, their house manager in his youth. He selected this village house as his share of property after partition, rejecting another house at Cochin, which further upsets Seetha. Seetha is doubtful of Das since she had heard of some affair and close relationships with women in his extended family when he was growing up in the village. Das’s old flame Neeli who belongs to the lower caste stays in a hut in front of their property as traditional tenants, as was the practice in olden times. Rajesh / Unni gets a liking to her and often goes in secret to her place to see her and play. He also gets close with Neeli’s niece, another low caste girl. Seetha is angry at her presence around them and always fights with Das for the same. She successfully gets her evicted from their premises after much deliberation with Das and Gopalan Nair. She also gets Das to arrange admission for Unni in a Yercaud based convent school since she is skeptical about the schooling in the village. Neeli is suffering from some chronic ailment which gets her tired and breathless most of the times. Her father wants to consult a doctor for her instead of the traditional medicine and tries to get a loan from Das by pledging his meagre share of some gold. Seetha refuses to take any gold and tells Das to help them out otherwise with cash if he wants. One day Unni goes to her new hut nearby the river to see her since she was seriously ill. When he was playing closely with Neeli’s niece, she rebukes them and shouts at her niece to go away. She then breaks down in front of Unni saying that its better for them not to meet, instead of getting close at a young age and moving apart once they are adults, reminiscing of her own childhood and subsequent affair with Das. When Unni is back home, Das scolds and trashes him for visiting Neeli since he knows Seetha will keep doubting him and creating problems in the family. Both Das and Seetha have an emotional talk that night and they finally reconcile after Das assures her that even if he has had his share of affairs in the past, he has always been faithful to her since he decided to get married to her. He consoles Unni saying that people like them and Neeli were kept apart due to the untouchability and other caste practices in those times. The next morning, they get to know that Neeli had died the previous night due to her fatal condition. Unni visits the place where she was cremated, joined by Das later and is watched far way from Seetha who breaks down.

Cast

as Das *

as Seetha * Seema as Neeli *

as Gopalan Nair *

Sankaradi Chandrashekaran Menon, better known by his screen name Sankaradi (14 July 1924 – 8 October 2001), was an Indian actor. He was a veteran Malayalam comedian and character artist, who had over 700 Malayalam films to his credit. He dominated the ...

as Thampuran *Master Vimal as Unni /Rajesh *

Meena Meena () is a sub-group of Bhils. They speak Meena language. They started adopting the Brahmin worship system. Its name is also transliterated as ''Meenanda'' or ''Mina''. Historians claim that they belong to the Matsya tribe. They got the sta ...

as Devaki *

Santhakumari Santha Kumari (born Vellaala Subbamma; 17 May 1920 – 16 January 2006) was an Indian musical artist and actress. She was married to the Telugu film director and producer P. Pullayya. Early years Vellaala Subbamma was born in Proddatur town, ...

as Naaniyamma *

Thodupuzha Vasanthy Thodupuzha Vasanthi was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. She appeared in over 450 movies and also in 16 tele-serials and 100 plays. She was a theater artist, before starting with small roles in movies. Her first full lengt ...

as Thampuratty *

Sabitha Anand Sabitha Anand is an Indian actress who has performed in Tamil and Malayalam movies and serials. She was one of the lead actresses in the 1980s. She is the daughter of Jacoob Abdu Rahman Anand, an Indian actor in Malayalam movies during the 1960 ...

as Malootty *Tony as Malootty's lover *Sonia as Paru

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

and the lyrics were written by

Kavalam Narayana Panicker Kavalam Narayana Panicker (1 May 1928 – 26 June 2016) was an Indian dramatist, theatre director, and poet. He has written over 26 Malayalam plays, many adapted from classical Sanskrit drama and Shakespeare, notably Kalidasa's ''Vikramorvasiy ...

Awards

The film won the

Kerala State Film Award for Best Story The Kerala State Film Award for Best Story is an honour, begun in 1969, presented annually at the Kerala State Film Award of India to a writer for the best story in a Malayalam film. Until 1997, the awards were managed directly by the Departme ...

References

External links

* 1983 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Films about social class Films about the caste system in India Films shot in Mumbai Films shot in Kerala Films with screenplays by M. T. Vasudevan Nair Best Film on National Integration National Film Award winners Films directed by I. V. Sasi {{1980s-Malayalam-film-stub