Vilkkanundu Swapnangal (1980) User Reviews

This isn't a movie, its real life..

[chevellemj · 7/10 · 22 August 2002]

I saw this movie a few weeks back. Being an Indian myself, I was surprised to see this one in an American website. However, the movie is really shot to originality. Sukumaran arrives in Dubai, without either a passport or visa ie. he arrives on an illegal launch boat like most Indians did , in search of their dreams of a beautiful and wealthy "Persia", where no one has to suffer any hardships, and yet become rich as kings. On reaching the coastline of Fujeirah, the captain, afraid of being spotted by the Bedouin army, asks him to jump into the sea from the launch, where along with a few others he swims ashore. Amazed to see the place to be a barren desert, he walks on until he meets an Arab in a pickup, who offers him a ride to Dubai.

From the on the story begins. He finds that 'Persia' is fit only for hardworking people. He meets a few friends of his in Dubai, who get him a job. Then by his hard work and determination, Sukumaran finally makes his pile and returns to India. The movie deals superbly with the feelings of people who migrated to Gulf countries away from their dear ones, in search of work. As many as 80,000 Indians migrated to United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the 70's and 80's. It also shows how relatives back in India eye only the wealth of the "Gulf" Indian, and imagine that life is paradise-like in Gulf countries. This isn't just any other movie plot; its the real life of millions of Indians who manage to live on amidst the dunes and heat of the Arabian Desert.

Wake up and smell coffee

[cohuman · 7/10 · 23 January 2024]

Sukumaran is perfect as an innocent young man going to the gulf by boat initially. Without much future in his home town , he too decides to go to the gulf like most Keralites of that time . He manages to get a good job after several travails like losing his close friend . Despite diversions in the form of his secretary and a nurse , Srividya he manages to focus and hold his job. Both these women have their own poignant stories to share . After earning substantially , he returns back home to Kerala planning to lead a peaceful life and realises that everything has changed including himself . People around look at him in a new light as he has lots of money now . He has snapped connections with his old self mentally . He himself grows aloof with those people who helped him in times of distress. His lover Jalaja rejects him citing his attitude despite him promising her the world at her feet . Dejected he returns back to the gulf to get on with his life . The whole movie is about his journey from a wary honest young man to an over confident well settled rich man . Srividya shines in her small role as usual as a nurse and then his lover singing a duet with him . Jalaja is cute as a simple girl and invokes some sympathy as some one who is shocked by his attitude. Mammooty shines in his small raw role as a drunk. Over all its a realistic movie waking up all those with day dreams of the gulf.

Dreams for Sale !

[CIDMoosa · 6/10 · 11 February 2019]

Immigration to the Persian Gulf has spanned a good 4 decades among the people of Kerala starting from the 70's, when the flocking began in illegal boats to Iran (Then Persia). A great majority of the malayalee population have always been attracted by the wealth of black gold compared to an otherwise industrially backward hometown of theirs. Years later, the same community has made their mark in the Middle Eastern states with generations toiling away their life and compromising with their dreams for the sake of families back home. The present generation has seen a lot of delineations of life in the gulf kingdoms from Arabikkadha, Diamond Necklace and literary works such as Dubai puzha or the slightly more different Aadujeevitham. However even in the early 80's, the renowned writer and film maker genius M.T.Vasudevan Nair had made a celluloid adaptation of such a tale. Vilkkanund Swapnangal is indeed the story of dreams for sale, of people who took a plummet into an unknown magical land to realize their dreams. In their quest for more and more money, some people lost their sprint in life, while others compromised for the exterior appearance of lavishness.

As the story unfolds we have Sukumaran playing the protagonist, a typical M.T kind of hero, one could say. His character has all the archetypal individualities and background of a lead man from an M.T novel or short story. The man with a poor and tormented flashback leaves his home land in search of more money and returns back with seeds of vendetta. However things have changed back home and time has reduced his old nemeses to weak personas that started respecting him for his new found fortune. The stand-off with his past and his obligations back in the gulf lands him in a quandary which carries off the latter part of the movie. The first half traces the advance of the lead man right from his illegal mooring in UAE, the trials and tribulations he has to undergo before getting employed and his further rise in the career hierarchy. Those who have seen Dubai only within the last few years, including me would have been flabbergasted for sure after watching this MT piece directed by Azad. It was a totally arid desert land back then, as the movie illustrates, which was transformed in a whiff with a genie's wave apparently! People who have read M.Ts literary works can find an uncanny resemblance to the novels Kaalam, Naalukettu or Bandhanam, in the way the central character is evolved from his beginnings to present. The protagonist is always shown as an ultimate loser in life in spite of his pecuniary gains or social status, as is the case with many of M.T's lead men in bookish works. The script also touches regular areas of M.T like waning of the higher caste groups after land redistribution movement by the communist party, corresponding changes in social strata and nostalgic indulgences of village life.

A very curious trivia about this movie, maybe the only reason this flick is talked about during present times would be the fact that this was the first ever released movie of superstar Mammootty. Playing a miniscule role as the lesser antagonist to Sukumaran, he carries off the part of the drunkard who still basks in his old social glory quite well. It's well known that Sukumaran who was M.T's regular choice for his movies was gradually replaced by Mammootty, who leveraged them well and went on to grow into one of the biggest names in Motion picture production. Considering the time of release of the movie and the novelty of plot, Vilkkanund Swapnangal could be appreciated for such a theme. Nevertheless, it is definitely a less reminisced screenplay of M.T paralleled to his other classics.