Yathra

<p>The story unfolds as Unnikrishnan, a convict, now free from jail, tells his tragic love story to his fellow passengers in a school bus. An orphan and a forest officer by profession, he falls in love with a local woman, Thulasi, during his stay at a forest area. They decided to get married, and he sets off to tell his best friend about his plans. On his way back, the police arrest him as a suspected criminal, who looks similar to Unnikrishnan. There he accidentally kills a policeman and gets life imprisonment. During his early days at jail, he writes a letter to Thulasi asking her to forget him. When his prison term was about to complete, he writes a letter to see if she waits for him. After long years of torment in the jail he goes to meet Thulasi. Does she still wait for him? That’s the question of his fellow passengers, too. At the end, she does wait for him, and welcomes him with lamps, and a face, wet with tears of joy, and sadness, together. Thus, the film ends off happily, with everyone shedding tears of joy. The film was released on 20 September 1985. According to a trade analysis by Sreedhar Pillai for , the film grossed around 0.19 crores from the releasing centers, becoming the highest grossing Malayalam film of the year. completed a 120-day run in theatres. The film ran for more than 50 days in a center in . Shobha Warrier of while reviewing (2005) wrote, “Those who have not seen the original may find the film poignant and interesting but as a person who has seen the original with two great artistes at their best, I found the film extremely disappointing.” Further writing, “There is absolutely no comparison between Mammootty and Dhanush, or Shobhana and Priya Mani. To be fair to the young heroine, Priya Mani looks innocent and vulnerable but when you have seen the same role performed with more finesse and maturity, you cannot help but feel disappointed.” The music was composed by and the lyrics were written by and . The song “Thanannam Thannanam” is inspired by from the 1959 musical .</p>