Encounter with fantasy: Njaan Gandharvan

I had a dream last night. I was imagining myself as a gandharvan. Gandharvans are celestial men who are very good musicians. Their job is to keep the Gods happy with their music in paradise. They are also womanizers, who often get caught. If they are found guilty, they are punished and forced to stay away from paradise and spend a certain time on Earth. The Gandharvans during their stay on Earth keep on doing what they are well known for, seducing women. They seduce women on earth and go back to paradise after the punishment time is over. What an interesting life!! I would love to be one and if it was in my hands, I would have instantly chosen to be one.

This Malayalam movie is about one such Gandharvan and a young college girl Bhama with whom he falls in love with. She goes on a tour to some seaside town and while standing alone in the beach, she gets a statue. The statue is so beautiful and turns into a man at night. This particular Gandharvan is someone who does not enjoy living in paradise and wants to leave everything and live like a normal man on earth. Unlike the usual Gandharvans, he actually falls in love with Bhama and breaks some of the rules that a Gandharvan is supposed to follow. The Gods come to know of this and order the Gandharvan to come back to paradise and face punishment. The Gandharvan is in love with Bhama and he does not want to go back. Did the lovers succeed in their love life or not is the rest of the story.

The movie is lyrical in nature and the scenes are filmed in a normal and realistic manner. Whenever the Gandharvan appears on screen, it is a sight of pure imagination. This is a story of pure fantasy and it is hard to convince someone about a Gandharvan coming and falling in love with a girl on Earth. A slight mistake could screw up the whole story but Padmrajan doesn't leave any room for that, which proves his greatness as a writer and director. Unfortunately, this was Padmarajan's last film as a writer and director. The film has beautiful visuals, good background music, nice dialogues and songs and the characters are well-written and layered. The music of this film are classical based songs and they are rendered flawlessly by Dr. K.J. Yesudas.

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