Oru vadakan veeragaadha

Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha or Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha (Translation: A Ballad of the North) (1989) is a Malayalam feature film directed by T. Hariharan. The screenplay of this film was written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair.

The film is based on a legend about the famous warriors of Northern Kerala. According to the legend, Aromal Chekavar, a well-known warrior, lost his life in a duel when his sword broke off at the hilt during the fight. The metal rivets holding the blade to the hilt had been replaced with wooden ones by his trusted ally and cousin, Chandu. Chandu is said to have betrayed his cousin because he was jealous of Aaromal's popularity and abilities.



Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha represents the Golden Age of Malayalam Cinema. The story was filmed numerous times in the early black-and-white era. Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha presents an alternative version of the same legend, as it presents the incident from Chandu's perspective, suggesting that grave injustice has been done to Chandu by wrongly accusing him of replacing the rivets. Though the language of the black and white era was generally heavily melodramatic, in Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha, the director and writer used a more natural tone. M.T. Vasudevan Nair won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay. Mammootty received a National Film Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Chandu. Generally, his portrayal of Chandu is counted among the best portrayal of any character in Indian Cinema. P. Krishna Moorthy, the Art Director, also earned the National Film Award for Best Art Direction.





PLOT

The film consists of flashbacks showing the incidents leading to the death of Aaromal Chekavar. It opens with two young men, Aaromal's son and his nephew (the son of his sister Unniyarcha). They learn how Chandu’s treachery resulted in Aaromal’s death. The young men set out to take revenge on Chandu. The youngsters challenge Chandu to a duel, which he refuses because they are young and inexperienced in duelling.

Chandu narrates his version of the incidents to the servant girl of the house. He tells how he became an orphan and how his uncle Kannappan adopted him. Kannappan's son and Chandu's cousin Aaromal used to humiliate Chandu. However, Chandu excelled at Kalarippayattu (a martial art of Kerala state in India) which made Aaromal jealous. To make things worse, Aaromal's father loved Chandu like his own son and was proud of his martial skill. This increases Aaromal’s dislike of Chandu. Chandu is hurt and saddened when Aaromal decides to marry off his sister, Unniyarcha to a well-to-do man even though he knows that Chandu loves Unniyarcha dearly. Chandu feels that he will never get the respect he deserves for his skill in Kalarippayattu as long as he remained in the shadow of the famous warrior dynasty of his uncle. Chandu decides to join the martial arts school run by Aringodar, another renowned master of Kalarippayattu martial art, so that he can make a name for himself. Before long, Chandu becomes Aringodar’s chief student.

A dispute arises between two brothers of a royal family in Kerala, which is to be settled by a duel between the champions of the brothers. One of the brothers hires Aringodar as his champion, and the other hires Aaromal. Aringodar wants Chandu to be his second in the duel, but Chandu is forced by family obligations (owed to his uncle) to be Aaromal’s second.

During the duel, the blade of Aaromal’s sword breaks. Even with a broken sword, he kills Aringodar by unlawful means, contrary to the conventions of duelling. As Aaromal rests in a room after the duel, he accuses Chandu of bribing the swordsmith to use wooden plugs instead of steel rivets to fix the blade of the sword to the hilt, causing it to break during the duel. This causes a fight to break out between Chandu and Aaromal. Aaromal accidentally trips and falls on a spike during the fight with Chandu, but utters ‘Chandu Chathichu’ ('Chandu betrayed me') to people who rush into Aaromal's room hearing the commotion. Chandu flees from the place and later discovers that the swordsmith was bribed by Aringodar’s daughter, Kunji.

The film returns to the present time where the two young men (Aaromal’s son and nephew) are adamant about fighting Chandu. Chandu defeats each of them in turn, and asks them to return. They refuse, and subsequently Chandu stabs himself saying "let the traitor Chandu’s story end here. I don’t want you people to lose..."


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