Small-town dreamer vs city sharks — and one deliciously unhinged Suresh Gopi villain.
Haridas (Jayaram) moves to Trivandrum for a government job arranged by a local politician. He is provided accommodation by a retired major (Thilakan), a friend of his father, at his house. Haridas gets cheated by the politician and ends up working odd jobs to make ends meet. He initially shares his situation only with the major's daughter (Ranjini) towards whom he starts to grow romantic feelings. Eventually the major comes to know about his job and helps him out to get an alternate one. Meanwhile, Haridas realises that his original government job is now occupied by an old-time adversary Manu (Suresh Gopi), with whom he gets into multiple altercations.
Acting
Thilakan's gruff warmth; Suresh Gopi's sneering menace.
Direction
Ashokan builds tension through office corridors and rented rooms.
Writing
Haridas's humiliations feel painfully lived-in, not melodramatic.
Director
Ashokan
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Captures late-80s Trivandrum's bureaucratic maze — government jobs as social currency in Kerala.
Ashokan's directorial debut; he later became better known as an actor.
IN
