AllMovie

Bhoothakkannadi, a powerful psychological drama brought to screen by well-known Malayalam screenwriter A.K.Lohitthada, takes up the issue of sexual harassment of children which has become one of the most disturbing problems of society in recent years. Widowed watch repairman Vidyadharan (played by Mammootty, a very popular actor of the South) lives alone after having lost his wife to a fatal snake bite. He believes that the snake was taking revenge, for the snakes mate was killed long ago by schoolchildren pelting stones. Afraid of further attacks of revenge, he refuses to remarry, but the reason for his celibacy is his undying love for a childhood sweetheart, Sarojini. Tragedy strikes when Sarojini's daughter is raped and killed. Vidyadharan accidentally kills the half-wit hunter whom he suspects of the abominable act. In prison, he begins to see everything in a magnified manner -- as if through the magnifying lens he uses to see inside the watches. On the one hand, the film is a classic example of a man trapped inside the labyrinth of superstitions and customs. On the other hand, it is a study of reality -- or unreality -- as the protagonist's preoccupation with the magnifying glass makes him grasp reality in the most bizarre way, the smallest elements assuming giant proportions.