{mosimage} {mosimage}It is one of those nice warming kids movie, that moves and sees the world in their perspective. The small happiness that makes a difference to them, their 'big' problems like feeding the milk, rude tuition teachers and how they try to escape from them, yet their innocence charming us... "Pookkalam Varavayi" is definitely a lovely movie to be watched and cherished to understand the simple, beautiful world of tiny tots. Director Kamal manages to take us to the world of children, who are longing for love, through the journey of Geethu (Baby Shamli). She is the kid of now estranged parents Jayaraj & Usha - played by (Late) Murali and Geeta, who spends her week divided between the parents. Geethu finds her love in her bus driver Nandhan (Jayaram) and situations force him to take her to his village on a vaction without informing her parents. Geethu was overwhelmed by the affection showered on her by Nandhan's sibling (Rekha), parents (Kaviyur Ponnamma, Sukumaran Nair) and neighbours (Sunitha, Pappu) and refuses to return to her parents when they come searching for her, leading to a tearful climax. Baby Shamili was so adoring, Jayaram was too subtle, Rekha and Geetha spoke a lot through their eyes and Innocent & Jagathi provided a comical relief. Seems Kavya Madhavan and Divya Unni were also a part of this movie as school girls but I couldn't identify them. This movie came in 1991 when the Golden period of Malayalam movies was at its peak, so the performances and the technicalities were subtle and warming. Cinematographer Jayanan Vincent had distinguished the worlds of Geethu by contrasting lighting. The city part was starking while the village parts were dreamy with soft lighting. Despite some logic defiances, Available in Moserbaer's DVD collection, 'Pookkalam Varavayi' is a beautiful message to all the parents and in one word - "Lovely". - {oshits} readers
