Dileep enacts the role of Shanthanu, a researcher in linguistics. He enjoys close companionship with Kalpana (done by Samvritha Sunil) and Anuradha (portrayed by Mamta Mohandas) who between themselves share a close relationship. Shanthanu and Kalpana are in love with each other and Shanthanu particularly wants to take the relationship forward into the marital level. However, both of them are unable to to express their feelings openly and always want the presence of Anuradha in their meetings. Kalpana is initially shown in the movie as someone who loves to have a romantic relationship, but in between the frames we also get a feeling is that she is a 'free-bird', not totally incapable of getting out of relationships without regret and at ease. More than the romantic aspects of their relationship, Kalpana is also seen to be 'materialistic', and not entirely platonic. She wants Shantanu to get a better house, better surroundings, and not willing to be in the house where he currently lives. Perhaps because of all these, Shantanu remains slightly sceptical about the relationship, but he generally keeps such thoughts to himself and occasionally shares them with Anuradha.
Shantanu's character is not bound by the presence of close relatives around him, whereas Kalpana is the only daughter of orthodox and conservative parents (enacted by Innocent and Urmila Unni), who wish to be involved in everything that she does. They do not like to send their daughter alone for movies or outings, so much so that Anuradha is forced to accompany her at every such instances, most of which will be to secretly meet with Shanatanu. Eventually, Anuradha is forced by circumstances to act as the bridge between them. Shantanu is aware of Kapana's parents' reluctance to get her married to him, the main reason of which is religion. She is a Brahmin, whereas he is not.
The irony is that Anuradha is the one who possesses sensitivity about relationships. She loves to be in love, but having had a bitter experience from one of her cousins (done by Vineeth) earlier in life, she prefers to be alone. She is quite pretty and possess an attractive personality. There are a few characters, including an adolescent, who wish to be involved with her, most of them just being physical, but she keeps them at bay.
As the movie progresses, we get to see Shantanu and Kalpana agreeing to go for a secret register marriage and fix a date for that as well. However, at that time Kalpana's family exerts tremendous pressure on her to get married to someone from their caste, and wants her to meet with a rich business-person (done by Ajmal Ameer). Kalpana reluctantly agrees, and by the strange turn of events, she lands up in a hospital with injuries. The meeting with that rich person and perhaps that accident change her life, and she changes her attitude. She agrees to get married to that person, and Shantanu gets thrown out of her life. Anuradha gets disturbed with Kalpana's decision but Kalpana explains that this was the only way to keep everyone happy. Shantanu is heartbroken. He realizes that only Anuradha understood the emotions in him and regrets in not realizing it earlier. He feels perhaps he should have got into a relationship with Anuradha who was 'so close' to him all through-out but yet remained so far away. The movie ends with Anuradha walking away from him, but Shantanu looking on - perhaps with an expectancy and hope that she may look back.
The film, shot using Sync-sound technology, is relatively short and well-handled by Shyamaprasad. There are areas where the transportation of the story from a middle-class Bengal setting in the sixties into a contemporary setting in Kerala has created scripting inconsistencies. Such short-comings in the story line apart, the cinematic portrayal of the story did come out very well. Dileep as Shanthanu has performed well, and Samvritha Sunil as Kalpana looked natural. However, the stand-out performance has come from Mamta Mohandas who played her part elegantly and with commendable restraint. Vineeth is fine. The rest of the cast including Innocent, Urmila unni, Vineeth, Madampu Kunjukuttan looked apt for their roles. Ouseppachan's music and background scores mix very well with the tone and mood of the movie. Azhagappan's handling of the camera is brilliant, blending well with the theme.
Prepared by Kalyani