Human interest stories are one of a kind tales about people helping each other in times of difficulty. Malayalam cinema has no shortage of it. Stories of compassion, love, empathy, respect, understanding and all other similar emotions are conveyed through human interest stories. If all these emotions hit the right spot, that would mean the screenplay has done its job of delivering the right kind of movie. “Saudi Vellakka” is based on a case filed by one party against another and the amount of time it takes for the latter to clear their name. Based in the city of Cochin, the film is directed by Tharun Moorthy, who previously gave us the brilliant “Operation Java” in 2021. Starring Lukman Avaran, Devi Varma, Sujith Shanker, Binu Pappu, and Gokulan, “Saudi Vellakka” is part human drama and part courtroom drama.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Saudi Vellakka’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
The movie begins with Abhilash’s family receiving a summons from the police to present themselves in front of the magistrate court on the date mentioned in the summons letter. Abhilash’s family consists of a sister and a mother, who are agitated by the news he receives. They ask him to come down from Bangalore because if Abhilash does not show up, it will lead to an arrest warrant being issued against him. Abhilash, out of fright and terror, leaves for his hometown, Cochin. Abhilash is aware of why he is being summoned by the court. He knew this day would come after 16 years of the court case, which had been dragging along without any end in sight. As Abhilash starts thinking about the genesis of this case, the audience sees a flashback of events that led to the year 2019. Sixteen years ago, in the year 2003, Aisha Rowther lived with her daughter-in-law and her son, Sattar. They belong to a lower-class idle family and thus live in a small house in an area called Saudi in Cochin. Aisha and her neighbor Radhakrishnan are always at loggerheads regarding the wall and the boundary of their homes. Aisha is territorial about her home, as is Radhakrishnan. Aisha, out of anger, heads out to buy some kerosene from the ration shop. On the way back, she is hit by vellaka (small coconut) by the kids who were playing on Radhakrishnan’s roof. Aisha who was already enraged by her neighbor’s behavior, heads to the roof, and ends up slapping the kid Abhilash hard on his face. Abhilash, on the other hand, has been complaining since morning about a tooth that was on the verge of coming off. Abhilash’s tooth was broken off due to the slap, along with some blood oozing out of his mouth. The kid is taken to a local clinic, where the doctor informs the parents that a minor has been hit and that filing a case against the woman would be appropriate. Fueled by Radhakrishnan’s words, who already had a tussle with Aisha, Abhilash’s parents file a case against Aisha, aka Umma (mother), against his son Sattar, her daughter-in-law, and Sattar’s friend Britto. Umma is taken to the police station in the middle of the night, much to Sattar and his wife’s horror. Sattar is panicking at this point, for he does not know what the matter is. Sattar is a hardworking rickshaw driver who came back home after a long day at work to see his mother getting arrested. Sattar is a scared soul who has no financial means, which is why he has every right to be worried about his aging mother. Sattar contacts his friend Britto, who is a worker for a local political party.
Britto helps gather as much help as he can for his friend’s mother to get bail. He uses all his contacts to get a lawyer for the bail application. Since the culprit is an old woman, the hearing before the magistrate must be done as quickly as possible, and the bail must be granted as soon as possible. Britto, being a great friend with political connections, goes out of his way to help Sattar and his mother. He arranges for a lawyer in the middle of the night and other papers required for bail. Sattar, at this point, is clueless about how the system works and is worried for his mother. All he is aware of is that he needs to rescue his mother. Umma is finally granted bail, who at this point is a silent spectator, wondering what is going on around her. She knows a mistake has been made on her end, and that’s the reason she becomes quiet for the rest of the night. Sattar brings her home only to find that he is out of cash to give to his friend and fellow rickshaw driver. They refuse to take money from him, knowing his financial difficulties. Sattar and his wife are always in conflict over his mother’s temperamental behavior. Abhilash and his family, which consists of his mother, father, sister, and uncle, are overly protective of him after the incident. Aisha Umma tries to meet Abhilash at the hospital, but she is stopped by his mother and uncle, who verbally abuse her and ask her to leave the premises. Aisha Umma pleads that she is just here to meet the kid and apologize. The kid’s family refuses to let her meet him over the pretext that she injured the kid, which is why he is now at the hospital. The family is enraged by the fact that the lady dared to come back to apologize. They wonder if she has come with the hope of having the case against her withdrawn the case against. They throw her, Sattar, and Britto out of the hospital as the hospital authorities and Abhilash’s father tryies to pacify the situation. Sattar is livid at his mother for taking a step without consulting him or Britto. Angrily, Sattar and his wife ask Aisha Umma to not be a burden for them going forward. Sattar did not mean the words he said, but the fact of the matter is he is angry over the repercussions he and his wife are facing because of his mother’s act. Aisha Umma, on the other hand, is riddled with guilt for acting on her anger without thinking twice. She hopes to meet the kids somehow and talk to him about her guilt before she goes further with court proceedings. Soon the bail is canceled because Aisha Umma did not appear before the court the last few times, and Sattar again must bail her out. Britto is on his way to work at the Gulf, but he helps Sattar one last time before heading out of the country. Sattar is again worried about the financial issues that will come with the case being extended again. Sattar’s wife makes it clear she can’t be spending her life worrying about legal matters. Sattar is conflicted about how to handle this matter without disrupting his personal life. He will have to spend a lot of money on the case by hiring a lawyer and continuously taking her to court as a culprit whenever the summons says so. Aisha Umma hears the conversation between her son and the daughter-in-law, decides to leave his home for good, and asks Sattar to leave her at her husband’s home. Aisha is the second wife of herhis husband. When she reaches his doorstep, he makes it clear he no longer has any financial capability to support her. She requests him to give herhim a small house just for her shelter. Aisha Umma’s husband finds her a home, and she starts living there alone. Sattar asks her to come back to his place, but she refuses to leave her new home. Aisha Umma believes she has placed enough burden on her son at this age and cannot bother him further with any more legal issues. Aisha is adamant about not going back, which breaks her son’s heart; out of guilt, he leaves his wife, too, and goes away. Aisha Umma, at this point, only wants to get herself out of the case without any help from her son. She takes it upon herself to find a solution to a problem she started.
‘Saudi Vellakka’ Ending Explained – How Does Umma Get Out Of The Case Against Her?
Aisha Umma, knowing her restrictions caused by her aging mind and body, takes control of the case and her life once and for all and does not ask for any help from Sattar or his wife. Aisha Umma begins by asking for help from the previous lawyer, who unfortunately dies of cancer. Aisha Umma is clueless at this point on how to go forward now that the lawyer is no longer there to help. Dejected by her fate, she heads home only to be approached by her previous lawyer’s junior, who offers to help her with the case. Aisha Umma does not know how the legal proceedings work, and she does not know anything about the judiciary or the money required for her to get the case going without getting arrested. Gokul, her previous lawyer’s assistant, takes the case, but Aisha makes it clear to him that she does not have any money on her. She helps Gokul with the cash fromby selling her gold bangles and the money she receives from them. And thus begins her long fight to stay out of jail and keep appearing before the changing magistrates just to make sure she is not arrested. Aisha believes she can sustain her life by selling homemade snacks at local stores, so she starts earning that way to fund her court proceedings. She receives a meager amount from her business, but she is happy that it is her hard-earned money being used for herself. Aisha Umma is unperturbed by the regular court visits and, at this point, has gotten used to all the nitty-gritty around them. The case, which began in 2003, has gone on for years. The case is always carried over from one year to another with no end in sight. Magistrates change, and public prosecutors change, but the state of Aisha Umma’s case does not change. She appears in court for every single hearing with her lawyer, who stays with her like a strong rock. Gokul goes through thick and thin to make sure she stays out of jail and refuses to leave her side. Keeping her age in mind, Gokul goes miles to help her out. Aisha Umma is resilient but does not show it on her face. She knows she needs to face the consequences of losing her temper with a kid, and now she is paying for it. Meanwhile, her son, Sattar, is nowhere to be found by the police. His wife files for a missing person case and hopes this will help her find him, but he never turns up. Aisha Umma is also made aware of his disappearance, along with Britto. No one has any clue if Sattar is alive or dead. They can just hope that he walked away and did not commit suicide out of guilt. As the case’s verdict keeps getting postponed year after year, Sattar’s wife is also waiting for him to turn up at her doorstep someday. She is not losing hope. Aisha Umma believes that wherever he went, he loved the place so much that he did not want to come back. This can imply that Sattar might be dead, and she knows he will never come back.
The story moves to 2019, when Abhilash is asked to present himself in front of the court for the same case. Abhilash is now aware of the fact the case is nothing, and it was purely filed based on anger fueled by neighbors, which got projected onto his family. Abhilash knocks on every possible door of witnesses who were part of the FIR. Many are either too sick to get up from bed or many he lost contact with. The Saudi area where he lived and the name of that location has also changed. The allegory of the situation is that things have massively changed around us, but the judiciary is still the same, at a stalemate that does not help people with meager to no earnings. A minor case such as Aisha Umma’s could have been settled out of court, but the family had to go to court to prove their power and anger, which was short-lived as they forgot about the case eventually. But Aisha Umma, being the culprit, had to present herself in front of the court for every single hearing without missing out on a date. Abhilash, with the help of Britto, goes to every witness’s home to help him get Aisha Umma out of this case. Getting her out of the case would mean getting himself out of the matter as well. Abhilash wants to clear his name once and for all. Abhilash finally manages to get hold of all the witnesses, and one by one, the statement they originally made is changed, branding all of them as hostile witnesses. Abhilash, too confesses that he was a kid and that he does not remember half the things mentioned in the FIR right now. Abhilash feels sorry for the state he put Aisha Umma in and resolves to end the case once and for all so that she does not have to suffer visiting courts till her last breath. It’s been 16 years since the case has dragged on, and Abhilash cannot believe it has not been closed yet. No one in the family bothered to close the case after it was filed. It was after one of the magistrates made it clear to summon the person that filed an FIR to end the matter as Aisha Umma’s age is not on her side. Gokul, also on many stances, makes it a point to talk about her age as she cannot appear before the court because her health has started deteriorating. Abhilash, on seeing Aisha Umma, feels guilty about what his family put her through and decides to end the case. All the witnesses go hostile by the end of it, including Abhilash. The court finally lets Aisha Umma go after she pays a fine. Aisha Umma does not have enough money with her, but Abhilash offers to help her with the bail money. Aisha Umma is touched by his gesture and apologizes to him for her act of temperament. She always felt guilty for acting on her emotions and tried to meet him but never dared to face him. Abhilash is content with being able to talk to her without any interference from his family. He realizes what a wonderful woman Aisha Umma is, despite whatever happened 16 years ago. Abhilash decides to take her back to his home, but sadly, Aisha Umma collapses in the washroom. Thankfully, she survives the fall, and Abhilash convinces his mother and sister to bring Aisha Umma home so that they can take care of her. Britto is happy to see the reconciliation happen after almost two decades.
The undertones of “Saudi Vellakka” lie in the fact that the judiciary of the country is years behind when it comes to the handling of such petty cases as the one in the film. Police and FIR lodgers do nothing beyond helping the accused to get them off the hook from a case that can be sorted out rather quickly rather than letting it drag for years. In this scenario, the accused is an elderly woman who goes years without missing out on the hearing, but the prosecutor does nothing to consider her age or her financial status. The film also throws light on the unnecessary hatred people carry for one another without realizing the gravity of the situation or the condition of people around them. The power of a good heart, a good deed, helping the helpless, and realizing that good people out there exist to help people in need is the overall arc of “Saudi Vellakka.” Gokul and Britto never leave Aisha Umma’s side till the last hearing, and Abhilash makes sure to get every witness that stood during the FIR to come out and make statements to help Aisha Umma so that she can be released from the case without any delay. Justice delayed is justice denied, which is true in this matter, but it is never too late to help someone standing on the edge of the earth about to fall.
Final Thoughts
“Saudi Vellakka” is one of the best films to have come out of Malayalam cinema that deals with human interest stories. The film does not just talk about hatred, which comes easily to people, but also about love, help, and caring, something that does not come easily to people in general. The screenplay is as simple as water but has layers and is complex; it does not shy away from talking about human nature. The movie has shades of “Sudani from Nigeria,” where the goodness of people is amplified in the right way. Though the emotional quotient is quite high in “Saudi Vellakka,” the narrative does not slip away from the plot. A lot of scenes do repeat, but that does not stagnate the story at any point during the running time of 180 minutes. Tharun Moorthy does a fantastic job of relating the story to many around us who are facing similar issues when it comes to the judiciary. The star cast is stellar in the film. Devi Varma as Aisha Umma is fantastic in every scene, from every fiber of her being. Lukan Avaran as Abhilash, Binu Pappu as Britto, and Gokulan as Advocate Gokulan deliver subtle and impactful performances. Sujith Shanker, as Sattar, is a scene-stealer in every scene that he is in. “Saudi Vellakka” is a must-watch because you get to see the goodness people have in them to help the helpless.
“Saudi Vellakka” is a Malayalam language film running at theaters near you and will be streaming on SonyLIV with subtitles.
