When I heard the title Ayodhi, I thought, “Something is stirring up trouble..!” It seemed so. But when I finished watching the film, the tears that came from my eyes wiped away such thoughts.The story begins in Ayodhi. There, Balram (Yashpal Sharma), steeped in religious faith and male dominance, lives with his family. His wife Janki (Anju Asrani), daughter Shivani (Preeti Asrani) and son Sonu (Adwait) live without any relief from Yashpal Sharma, who insists that he will even pay his daughter’s college fees when he pays for the crime (!) of enrolling in college in defiance of his orders not to go to college. If you cut it to the south coast of India, Sasikumar, the hero, is chasing some people in the fishermen’s dump in Rameswaram and anchoring them on their backs.
In this case, Yashpal Sharma is coming to Rameswaram on Diwali as a holy pilgrimage with his family.That’s when you understand how the story will go. We hope that the plot of the story could be what Yashpal Sharma, steeped in religion and orthodoxy, would do when Preity, who grew up with so many religious restrictions, and Sasikumar, who fought in the fisherman’s hut, fell in love.
But director R. Mandramoorthy tells a different story by breaking our old argument which is soaked in masala by watching commercial cinema.There is no romance between Sasikumar and Preethi until the last scene of the film. On further questioning, at one point he calls Sasikumar ‘Baiya’ (brother).
So what’s the story? On the way to Rameswaram from Madurai, Yashpal Sharma had an argument with the driver and the car crashed. In it, when Sharma’s wife Anju loses consciousness, her life can only be saved if she is taken to Madurai immediately, Sasikumar, a friend of the driver who drove the car, takes that responsibility for his friend. At the end of the great effort, Anju’s life cannot be saved.
The story is about how Sasikumar, who does not want to see the plight of a family who does not know the language and has no money to hold the dead body in their hands, helps the family even though he does not know the language they speak – that too with Yashpal Sharma, a conservative who does not understand anything.
Sasikumar is perfect for the role of a high spirited and broad minded man. In the context of the fact that it will cost more than one lakh rupees to send the Sharma family to the town when he has no money in his hand… and the need to get 7 certificates from the government within a few hours on a holiday will melt his heart.Our mind is deeply moved when he overcomes all the negative actions happening to him in every place and completes each task without any tension.
And when the plane is about to take off, we get those seven certificates and present them to the airport officer, who checks it and tells us to get another certificate citing a typographical error. Although Sasikumar is the hero of the film, Yashpal Sharma makes us enjoy beyond him.
Sasikumar lives up to his natural acting without any fuss. There are many touching moments in the film. But at the climax, the strict father who changes his mind takes Sasikumar by the hand and bows and asks what is your name, and when he says “Abdul Malik”, his body trembles. This scene Whip those who incite division in the name of religion.Similarly, seeing Sasikumar, who helped carry the mother’s body safely in the plane, Preeti Ashrarani says that next time will visit Rameswaram or not, but will see Abdul Malik.
We can shake hands and appreciate the producer R. Ravin Thiran who came forward to make such a story. Director R. Mandra Murthy, who thought of directing such a film in this time of sectarianism, will receive praise from many quarters.
Even though it is a travel story, the way the screenplay has made the family sentiment so emotional is surprising.
The music by N R. Raghunandan and the cinematography by Madesh Manickam cools the ears and eyes.
