Mizhikal Sakshi Malayalam Movie
Director Ashok R. Nath has come up with a rather touching and watchable movie in Mizhikal Sakshi, which however may not be box office material.
An old dumb lady, who has wandered into a temple, stays in the temple precincts and eats whatever she gets from the temple. She carries with her a bundle, the contents of which remains a mystery to others. One day the head priest finds that the old lady is actually a Muslim. This leads to problems. She is pushed out of the temple, but comes back again, only to be pushed out again.
When she is being pushed about, her bundle gets thrown into the temple pond. It is then that a photograph comes out of the bundle and floats upon the water. Everyone is shocked on seeing the photograph. It's that of a dreaded extremist who had earlier been awarded the death sentence. The cops are brought in to take away the old lady. It's then that the story of the old lady gets unfurled.
The police officer who had investigated the case pertaining to the person in the photograph relates incidents from the past to his colleagues. The old lady, who is called Kooniyamma by a young girl in the temple, is actually Nabeesa, whose son Said Ahmed had been awarded the death sentence some years back. In fact the police officer Aditya Varma and Said Ahmed had been friends.
Said Ahmed was a progressive idealist and a secular-minded person who was often misunderstood by people in his community. His father Ahmed Kunju Labba Sahib too was progressive-minded like Said Ahmed and stood by his son. Some how Said Ahmed gets arrested on charges of having caused a blast in a train. He is tried and awarded the death sentence. His father passes away while he is languishing in the jail and his mother becomes mentally deranged. Without ever knowing that her son has been sent to the gallows, Nabeesa wanders about in her insanity, searching for her son among the many faces she comes across.
Veteran actress Sukumari has delivered what perhaps is her career best performance as Nabeesa alias Kooniyamma, while Mohanlal puts in a commendable performance as Said Ahmed. Nedumudi Venu is good as Ahmed Kunju Labba Sahib. Manoj K. Jayan is OK as Aditya Varma, but falters on some occasions, especially on the dialogue side. Kochupreman gets to play a rather serious kind of role as Valiyaththaan alias 'Cholliswamy', who recites the Ramayana at the temple. Mala Aravindan, Vineeth, Krishnaprasad, Kailas Nath etc fit into their respective roles.
The four songs of the film penned by veteran poet-lyricist ONV Kurup and set to tune by veteran composer Dakshinamoorthy are all good ones, but "Thechchi chembaraththi…" and "Amma oru devalayam…" stand out. Cinematography is in tune with the theme. Script by Anil Mukhathala is fairly good, but could have been better. In total, we have in Mizhikal Sakshi a film that stands out on account of sensitive treatment and good performances.
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