Nimajjanam (1976) User Reviews

A couple and a bullock cart driver caught in a terrible twist of fate and how one fateful event changes all their lives.

[scattymini · 8/10 · 30 January 2016]

I saw this movie when I was around 12 – 13 years old and somehow it is still stuck in my memory, when I wanted to write about this movie all I remembered was Sharadha and the story, I did not know the name, after so much of search my husband located it for me, Nimmajjanam, means immersion, usually associated with the holy immersion of Vinayaka after the Chathurthi festival(the idol of Lord Vinayaka or Ganesha as he is widely known; is immersed in the rivers), the name itself holds so much symbolism in the movie. It is a movie about human values, there are three main characters; a wife and husband who are going to Kashi to immerse the asthi(the bones and ashes) of his father and the bullock cart driver who is taking them to the railway station. The journey is roughly about one, one and a half days. The movie begins with a discussion about right and wrong between the husband and the bullock cart driver. It's a very poignant scene since finally these three protagonists are caught between what is right and what is wrong. If at all, all criminals have a change of heart like the driver and punished like he is, the world would be a better place! But the ending of the movie is more of a poetic justice and cannot be expected in reality. Sharadha excels in her role as a Brahmin wife, faced with a cruel twist of life. She is unable to confide in her husband since he thinks upholding shastra is more important than life itself. The movie has very few dialogs, what the dialogs fail to do is done by Sharadha's expressive eyes and the background score. Chakrapani as the husband irritates you with his lectures about values and his thick headedness in not seeing what happens to his wife, when the old priest is able to find out the truth in few minutes he remains dumb until the last, therein lies the success of the character. But it pains my heart to see that in our society it's the rape victim who gets punished and the rapist goes Scot-free, in this case he gets the Gangajal(holy water from the Ganges) to atone for his crimes. A soft and subtle movie, if you have lot of time to spare(actually the movie's run time is just 75 minutes) and the inclination to watch a good movie, don't miss it!