Bharya Swantham Suhruth - Review

After the success of Rektha Sakshikal Zindabad (1998), veteran Malayalam actor-writer-director Venu Nagavalli makes a comeback to film direction with his new film Bharya Swantham Suhruthu (earlier titled Bharya Oru Suhruth and Suhruth), produced by Krishna Kumar and Biju Shamsudden under the banner of Mystic Eye Dream. Though the entire shoot was completed in the beginning of 2008 itself, the movie has unfortunately been waiting for release for nearly one year. A family entertainer scripted by Cheriyan Kalpakavady, the film has Jagathy Sreekumar, Mukesh, Urvashi and Padmapriya playing the lead roles.

Like his previous ventures Sughamodevi (1986), Sarvakalasala (1987), Ayitham (1987), Swagatham (1989), Lal Salam (1990), Aye Auto (1990), Kizhkkunarum Pakshi (1991), Kalippattam (1993), Aayirappara (1993) and Agni Devan (1995), Bharya Swantham Suhruthu too has a good quality of narration, a good mix of humour, family sentiments and a good story with a sensitive theme.

Bharya Swantham Suhruthu revolves around Zachariah alias Kariyaachan (Jagathy Sreekumar), a Gulf returnee who is running a humdrum life with his finance company, Kuttiparambil Financiers. This private banker lives with his wife Molly (Urvashi) and only daughter Teena, a plus-two student. Kariyaachan has a regular client named Girija Vallabha Menon (Mukesh), known to all as Girija, who runs a textile shop called Sreelakshmi Silks. Girija lives a secret life totally unknown to his wife Sreelakshmi (Padmapriya), an orphan who is constantly brooding over her childless status.

Girija is a flirt and has many women in his life. Influenced by Girija's Casanova lifestyle, Kariyaachan slowly begins to feel fed up of his wife and desires to have the company of new women. Girija helps Kariyaachan transform himself into a new man and even tells him to get close with women using the Internet. It is thus that Kariyaachan gets intimate with a young girl Urmila (Jyothirmayi), whose husband Sajan is abroad. From this point, Kariyaachan's life and the story take a new twist.

The storyline and theme may seem to be old wine, but it has an excellent script, packed with many careful insights and thought-provoking dialogues. The main highlight of the film is its characters. Jagathy Sreekumar has done his role Kariyaachan with characteristic ease, while Urvashi renders a very controlled performance as Molly. Mukesh, Padmapriya and Jyothirmayi are good as Girija, Sreelakshmi and Urmila respectively. There is nothing much to praise about the technical side of the film, since the technical crew, including the music department, does not offers any wonders. All in all, Venu Nagavally's Bharya Swantham Suhruthu is a rather well-made movie and deserves to be appreciated.

Producer: Krishna Kumar and Biju Shamsudden

Banner: Mystic Eye Dream

Cast: Jagathy Sreekumar, Mukesh, Urvasi, Padmapriya, Thilakan, Bharat Gopi, Vijay Menon, Jyothirmayi, Sukumari

Director: Venu Nagavalli

Music Director: Alex Paul

Script: Cheriyan Kalpakavady