Director: Bineesh Raj
Cast: Dr Swathy Narayanan, Sujith, King Mohan and Sridevi
Bineesh Raj who has many ad-films to his credit has made his foray into tinsel town with Ilai, and has taken up a powerful script that highlights the significance of education in female children.
Set in 1991 in a remote village near Nagerkovil, which has no proper motorable roads, the movie conveys the industriousness of students and how they strive hard to cross several hurdles to get access to education.
Ilai (Dr Swathy Narayanan) a class topper studying 10th grade at the government school lives in a backward village Bhoothapandi near Nagerkovil with her family. The entire village including Ilai’s mother (Sridevi) is against women getting education as they think female children should be confined to the kitchen and other household chores. But her father Marimuthu (King Mohan), a poor farmer gives her full support and he is the odd man out in the village who bats for women education.
She has an uncouth ‘murai maman’ (Sujith) who disrupts her studies fearing that Ilai might reject him if she gets higher education. Then there’s this village bigwig who constantly troubles Ilai since he wants his daughter, a classmate of Ilai to shine in the class. Meanwhile, on the final day of the Board Exams, the pannaiyar and murai maman hatch a plan to stop Ilai from writing the exam. Her father gets hospitalized and Ilai is left back at home to take care of the kid sister and brother, and complete the household work. Whether the distressed Ilai writes her last exam or not forms the rest.
Dr Swathy Narayanan who has a semblance to Priya Mani in the titular character has put her heart and soul into it. A brilliant feat and an award winning performance from her. Sujith, Sridevi, King Mohan, Ashwin, Kanagalatha and others are adequate. Ilai’s desperation to go the last day exam is literally transformed to the audience and the only question that lingered on all the minds was whether Ilai would take the exams or not. Kudos to the director for his realistic portrayal and sets, keeping in mind that the film’s story takes place in the early 90s. But it does stretch a bit much post interval and tests your patience.
Santhosh Anchal’s cinematography with natural lights is stunning and VFX by Bineesh Raj is laudable. Vishnu V Diwakaran’s music is soothing and goes well with the mood of the film. On the whole a commendable effort from Bineesh that is worth a watch.
