Naalu Pennungal is four tart stories by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai of village life in immediately-post-British India, 1946. It deserves a livelier title than its English-subtitle release name Four Women, which sounds like an earnest feminist ball-breaker, or maybe a naughty lesbian romp. Naalu Pennungal is a lot more intriguing than either. It is four separate short films - the four women aren't together - about different women in different situations. Perhaps the title could tell something of these: prostitute, virgin, housewife, spinster.

THE PROSTITUTE

Kunju Pennu (Padmapriya) leaves prostitution because she's found a decent man Pappukutty (Sreejith) to settle down with. She chats with her friend, senior prostitute Thresya (Sona Nair ), who shares her happiness at leaving the old life behind. Kunju Pennu takes a job at one rupee a day carrying stone on her head for the construction of a local road. Her husband earns 1.75 rupees per day. It's a pittance for both, and they have to sleep on the pavement. As Thresya says 'It's time you left the pavement. You should find a roof to sleep under with your man.' A brutish drunk ex-client (Manoj K Jayan) of Kunju Pennu harrasses her for sex and challenges Pappukutty, who defends his wife by thumping him. The ex-client reports both to the police (MK Gopalakrishnan, Raju) for immorality and hitting him. A magistrate (Sreekumar) - the court date is 30 June 1946, the sense of period feeling exact in the exaggerated rituals of the court - ridicules their low status, speaking in English to indicate his sophistication to bench-clerk (Aliyar). How can they be married? They don't even know who their fathers are. They're sentenced to 15 days in jail. And then what? It's immensely sad - the certainty that, love each other as they might, try as best they can to improve their situation, they will never be able to.

THE VIRGIN

A father (MR Gopakumar) in poor health is worried about being able to marry off his daughter Kumari (Geetu Mohandas). 'Proposals of marriage fizzle out somehow', he confides in neighbour (Ampootty) who knows a man (Nandulal) who has avoided marriage for years. Kumari's mother (Rosilin) and corresponding relatives of the target groom get them both married in an elaborate ceremony, and Kumari goes off to live with the sulky man and his resigned mother. The groom eats voraciously, is completely selfish, and won't have sex with his pretty bride. He spends all his time away selling in his shop, and going to the cinema. He brings Kumari back to her father and mother, and leaves her there. She returns to working in the fields. Others in her village gossip that the man has left her because she is immoral, and he is a virtuous man. Father vigorously defends his daughter to the scandal-mongers: 'You have villified an innocent girl'. The groom and his family demand 1,500 rupees for a divorce. Kumari's father demands they return her dowry - 'her hard-earned savings'. Kumari tells her relations, to their surprise, that there is no marriage to divorce - she is a virgin.

THE HOUSEWIFE

Chinnu, a randy and voluptuous housewife (Manju Pillai) gazes lasciviously as a formerly local man Nara Pillai (Mukesh) returns on a short visit from living away to see his elderly parents. Chinnu and he were at school together. Since then he's had 4 healthy sons, and 4 healthy daughters. Chinnu has had miscarriages and childen dead in infancy. Nara Pillai comes to Chinnu's house, to her delight, and he suggests they fuck so that she can have a child. The question is whether the lack of healthy children is due to Chinnu or her husband. Later, she talks to her husband (Murali) and debates within herself whether to take her old schoolfriend up on his offer. Next day, her husband comes home early, clearly suspicious, and he and Chinnu pound into action (off-screen, this being an Indian film). Next day, when rampant Nara Pillai arrives for Chinnu's answer, she sends him packing, trusting in the almighty, having prayed, concerning a child. The tail end of the piece is that, years later, Chinnu is telling the story to younger people. She didn't have a child, she says, but she has her honour.

THE SPINSTER

A widow (Lalita) has 4 children: a son (Ashokan); an eldest daughter Kamakshi (Nandita Das), the spinster of the title; a younger sister Subhadra, (Kavya Madhavan) who marries (Ravi Vallathol); and youngest sister Sarojam Ramya Nambisan. The family is desperate to marry off Kamakshi, but the suitor who arrives for her marries her younger sister instead. Younger sister Subhadra could have a halo saying 'bitch'. She is relentlessly cruel to Kamakshi. Kamakshi's brother promises to wait to marry until a husband is found for her, but years pass, and he marries. Mother despairs till her death as to what will become of Kamakshi. After mother is dead, Kamakshi goes to live with detestable Subhadra and husband, and dotes on their two little girls. But people begin to talk - is the husband living sexually with both sisters? Their mother's will has left the family house to Kamakshi, and she returns to live there alone, resolute. A small mystery remains. At the start of the story, a man was heard knocking on Kamakshi's bedroom door. It was the man who then married Subhadra. He later says to her that what he did was unpardonable. In a flashback to that opening scene in the past, Kamakshi is shown telling him through her closed door that she is refusing to have sex with him. Whether they already have done so is not made clear, or whether what is unpardonable is coming to marry her and instead marrying her younger sister Subhadra. The conclusion of the story suggests that Kamakshi is resolved that a woman can survive alone: 'You can go home in peace. I realise now that I like living alone. You hold yourself as the pillar holds the house.'

NAALU PENNUNGAL

The four stories that make up Naalu Pennungal don't share characters. Their link is the year, and the rural setting. The women are of different classes, but that is less significant than the individuality of their challenges. In each case, a woman is trying to make something of her life, cut a path into the future. In each case she confronts a difficult reality, but these are not simply related to a woman's place in a particular society and time - the task for each woman is personal. The prostitute is certainly overwhelmed in her struggle to change her life by what society forces her to be - insignificant and stamped with being an ex-prostitute. But her husband is equally powerless - they are both at the bottom of the social pile, and can only endure. It is a stoy about stoicism, resignation, and possibly hopelessness. The virgin is trapped by what can be seen from the 60 years' hindsight of the present day as ridiculous social pressures. A question posed by the film is perhaps whether much has changed. The housewife's story is less about its obvious subject - whether to shag an old friend she fancied at school - and more about the distress faced by couples who cannot produce surviving children. It is a timeless subject of despair, common to all era and societies. The spinster's story similarly is much more universal than particular. What determines attraction? What is the logic, or fairness about who is and who is not picked by others for a lifetime? Who can not survive happily living alone, and who can?

All of which makes may make Naalu Pennungal sound a gloomy passage of very nearly 2 hours (and at times it feels very much longer). Certainly, director and scriptwriter Adoor Gopalakrishnan's initially clunking, slow-moving dialogue (it improves) and complete absence of drama of the first couple of scenes of The Prostitute may cause the heart to slump, but the director gets the film at first grinding along slowly, and fairly soon getting quite a perky pace. The Prostitute is, to be fair, about hopelessness, and stasis, so the fact that it doesn't move much is reasonable. Manoj K Jayan's drunk is lively and excellent, a real breath of life in the story. Sreekumar's magistrate's unbearable smugness is an acting treat. Padmapriya as Kunju Pennu and Sreejith as Pappukutty deliver two superb performances, evoking heartbreaking, hopeless innocence. Geetu Mohandas as the virgin is a delight; MR Gopakumar a suitably distressed father; Rosilin a compassionate and sensual mother. Ampootty is entertaining as the neighbour who has foolishly introduced the bridegroom from hell. But The Virgin is Nandulal's film. His lugubrious gluttonous bridegroom is a fabulous piece of extremely restrained comic acting. The sight of him eating, eating, and eating again - 'Will you be serving buttermilk after the dessert? - pigging himself to the at first amusement and later revulsion of bystanders is the defining memory of the whole film. There's a feeling that director Adoor Gopalakrishnan is tempted to go with it and do an all-out comedy, but suddenly remembers it's a serious film with a message.

Manju Pillai is glorious as the housewife, creating a robust woman pulsing with rampant desire to wrap her entire, considerably expansive bodily assets round Mukesh's equally porky stud. It's two films in one - an almost slightly comic tour de bonk, with a sad tale of childnessness trying to peep through. Murali's delivery of the husband is a delightful and subtle piece of work which stitches the two threads together. There's an obvious question about The Spinster: are the characters blind? Nandita Das's stunning spinster Kamakshi is easily the prettiest looking - and most attractive character - of this final segment. Nandita Das gives a glorious performance, both in its introspective power, and its subtlety in exposing the character's possible thoughts. Kavya Madhavan delivers a wonderfully horrible younger sister Subhadra, the intonation of her voice as she chooses the most wounding remark for every occasion crossing language barriers. Lalita's mother is a deft portrayal of a head of family with one thought on her mind - dying with her children able to cope. Ashokan's elder brother is a gentle and effective characterisation; Ramya Nambisan presents Sarojam the youngest sister charmingly; the two little girls give delightful performances. Ravi Vallathol takes the husband-with-a-secret through the years to greying middle age - the story spans a decade or so - with subtlety.

Writer Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai's four vignettes are poignant tales, ostensibly of rural life in India, but universal in their perceptions. Director Adoor Gopalakrishnan evokes these with a fine - a remarkable - revelation of the inward humanity of each character. Often it's as if the camera is left running to record the human affairs taking place in front of it, at their own pace, in no hurry, which results in a feeling of real penetration below the surface, to the level of thoughts, desires, fears. It's profound, patient direction, allowing the currents below the surface to emerge. At other times there's obvious and careful cinema at work - river crossings over rippling water, boats punted through stagnant canals, handmade footbridges linking divided families, intense moods. Cinematographer MJ Radhakrishnan's photography captures a gorgeous palette of colours - with credit to laboratory Prasad Color Lab - that bring out the richness of the landscapes, and atmosphere of the interiors. Rajasekharan's design conjures a period and texture that feel right - with a subtle, careful creativity that's a visual delight.

Cast (alpha order): (Credits source: producer's notes 11 October 07 – credits are listed in the order given in company's notes): THE PROSTITUTE: Padmapriya - Kunju Pennu the prostitute. Sona Nair - Thresya her senior. Sreejith - Pappukutty her lover. Manoj K Jayan - Her old customer. MK Gopalakrishnan - Policeman. Raju - Policeman. Sreekumar - Magistrate. Aliyar - Bench-clerk. THE VIRGIN: Geetu Mohandas - Kumari, the virgin. MR Gopakumar - Kumari's father. Rosilin - Kumari's mother. Nandulal - Bridegroom. Ampootty - Neighbour. THE HOUSEWIFE: Manju Pillai - Chinnu, the housewife. Mukesh - Nara Pillai, the visitor. Murali - husband. THE SPINSTER: Nandita Das - Kamakshi, the spinster. Kavya Madhavan - Subhadra, younger sister. Lalita - Mother. Ashokan - Elder brother. Ramya Nambisan - Sarojam, youngest sister. Ravi Vallathol - Younger sister’s husband.

Company & Crew: (Credits source: producer's notes 11 October 07 – credits are listed in the order given in company's notes): Title: note: Naalu Pennungal is the film's IMDB title spelling; Moonnu Pennugal is the spelling in the company’s production notes; English language title - Four Women. Language – Malayalam. Year of Production - 2007 (August). Based on stories by - Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Script, Dialogue and Direction - Adoor Gopalakrishnan. Production Company - Adoor Gopalakrishnan Productions. Co-produced by - Emil & Eric Digital Pictures Pvt Ltd. Produced with the support of - Doordarshan India. Cinematography - MJ Radhakrishnan. Sound Recording - N Harikumar. Editing – Ajith. Decor – Rajasekharan. Music - Isaac Thomas. Costumes - Satheesh SB. Make-up - P N Mani. Liaison Dr P Venugopalan. Still Photography – Chandran. Production Controller - Kettidathil Vijayan. Production Coordination – Sreekumar. Outdoor Unit - Chitranjali Studio. Camera Unit - Prasad Productions. Laboratory - Prasad Color Lab. Chief Assistant - Meera Sahib.

IMDB Credits: www.imdb.com/title/tt0986244/

END

John Park

reviewed Thursday 11 October 07 / National Film Theatre - NFT2 - Press Preview - 10:30

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

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