Parvathy Parinayam 1995

Shivankutty arrives in a town as its new lineman, an employee of the electricity company. The townspeople are overjoyed to finally have someone who can repair the town’s frequent outages, and a sense of relief settles over the community. Shivankutty reconnects with his old college friend, Premachandran, who teaches Malayalam at a local parallel college run by the town’s influential Thirumeni family. He decides to move in with Premachandran, who rents a house next door to the feisty Subhadramma, a protective mother who guards her two teenage daughters, Parvathy and Lakshmi. Premachandran’s students, the two girls, become part of the new arrangement, and he even develops a soft spot for Lakshmi, while Parvathy and Shivankutty begin to grow closer.

The town’s mood shifts as the temple festival approaches, and Subhadramma’s stern boundary around suitors becomes a recurring topic in conversations about the girls’ futures. Subhadramma’s past shadows loom large in her recollections: she tells how, as a young woman, she fell in love with and married a lineman, Narayanankutty. He vanished eighteen years ago, and the mystery behind his absence fuels Subhadramma’s protective instincts toward her daughters. In the meantime, trouble brews when the younger of the Thirumenis, Aniyan Thirumeni, a known womanizer and a goon, clashes with Shivankutty over unpaid electricity bills at his flour mill. Their rivalry escalates as they dispute funds for the annual temple festival, drawing the entire town into their conflict.

The villagers decide to approach Narayanankutty, who has returned to the village as a wealthy man, with a request to sponsor the festival. Aniyan Thirumeni uses this opportunity to push for a marriage alliance by asking Subhadramma to consider Parvathy’s hand, partly as revenge for past slights and partly to settle old scores with Shivankutty. Parvathy refuses, and Subhadramma reveals a truth that changes everything: Lakshmi is her biological daughter, while Parvathy is Narayanankutty’s illegitimate child, whose mother committed suicide when Narayanankutty refused to accept either of them. The revelation shakes the family’s foundations, and Narayanankutty leaves in shame when confronted with the painful history.

Despite the strain and the pain of the past, Subhadramma’s care for her family remains, and she chooses to take responsibility in a new way. The narrative makes it clear that the “now-orphaned stepdaughter” mentioned in the backstory refers to Parvathy, whom Subhadramma decides to adopt, reaffirming her commitment to the two girls under her guardianship. With the full truth out in the open, Subhadramma finds herself bound to a complicated future, including an impending marriage to Aniyan Thirumeni that is arranged to coincide with the temple festival.

The temple festival becomes the focal point of the new power struggle. Aniyan Thirumeni schemes to derail the festival with hired thugs, but Shivankutty, loyal to his friends, thwarts the plan and keeps the community’s hopes intact. In a bold turn of events, Parvathy and Shivankutty elope with help from Lakshmi, Premachandran, and Narayanankutty. The trio of supporters believes in their union, even as Lakshmi and Subhadramma are kidnapped by Aniyan Thirumeni’s men. The lovers are forced to return, grappling with the consequences of the illicit escape and the festival’s fragile volatility.

In the climactic moments, Aniyan Thirumeni’s scheming is exposed and he is decisively defeated, both literally and figuratively. Subhadramma, having weathered betrayal and long-held secrets, gives her blessings to Shivankutty and Parvathy, signaling a new beginning for the couple and offering a sense of resolution to the town’s tangled web of loyalties, love, and family ties. The festival, once threatened by vendetta and hidden pasts, ends up becoming a backdrop for renewed trust and the possibility of a hopeful future for the two young lovers.