The film goes back and forth into Unnimaya’s past and present as is evident in that opening song, where she is ushered into the illam as the fourth wife of the 60-year-old Palakunnathu Namboothiri (Jaggannatha Varma). MT spins an engaging narrative, weaving a brief romance, enticingly blending Kathakali and placing it within the constraints of the community. There are references to Thathrikutty, the Namboothiri woman who challenged brahmin patriarchy by willfully sleeping with 65 men and was later ostracised.

Written by MT Vasudevan Nair, directed by Hariharan, Parinayam is a powerful social commentary that throws light on the denigrating patriarchal system that existed in the Namboothiri community during the early 1900s and the pitiable state of women in the community. When she refuses to submit to their inquisition, they order the domestic worker not to give her a drop of water. The Smarthan (Thilakan) is ruthless, ridiculing and humiliating her with questions about her pregnancy, even as the onlookers break into peals of laughter.

She is made to recite the plight of the victim all over again. They begin with the domestic worker (Dasivicharam) who is stationed outside the outhouse. The Smarthavicharam, where a Namboothiri slips into the role of a smarthan (judge) surrounded by other Brahmins, is disturbingly played out like the ordeals rape survivors are subjected to in the court of law. For them, this is a celebratory occasion-gloating about their multiple wives and mistresses, enquiring about the food, indulging in nourishing oil baths, and occasionally smirking at the “sadhanam” (inanimate object) locked in the outhouse. A stream of old, garrulous paan-chewing Namboothiri men have gathered for the impending trial. The accused Unnimaya (Mohini), the young widow of Palakunnathu Namboothiri, has been imprisoned in a dark, dingy room. “For a widow, laughter is more frightening than weeping/ Priestly class, do you know the pain and agony of it?/ It is the fire of this agony that is forever blazing inside namboodiri houses” - Lalithambika AntharjanamĪt the expansive and decadent Palakunnathu tharavadu, the arena is all set for a Smarthavicharam (inquiry into conduct).

Parinayam movie song