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The film opens in a musty
warehouse in one of the forsaken places in town - where
festers the germ of a revolution.
Stephen, a firebrand revolutionary reunites with the cause
after a jailbreak. It's been three long years of hardship,
of torture for the young idealist who is now impatient
to strike. Narayanettan (the '-ettan' suffix is for senior)
their leader, gives shape and perspective to their efforts.
And no easy task it is to reconcile the youngsters.
There's Hari, whose literary, artistic musings have earned
him the nickname 'Poet'. Aruna, a young woman whose devotion
to Hari makes it all seem worthwhile; Jamaal, the meek
but trustworthy aide. And there's Stephen, the trigger-happy
hardliner whose views find no resonance among the rest
of the team. But united they remain, to a nameless, faceless
ideal of freedom.
A plot is hatched, lines are drawn and roles are assigned.
The gentle natured Hari is chosen to fling the grenade
as the General's cavalcade passes by.
The tragedy of the act, the smothering of a life, and
the decisiveness of the deed - is blinded by the elaborations
that precede it. Nothing however, can prepare Hari for
the moment of reckoning. At the decisive moment he weakens,
overcome by tenderness for the victim and his family.
The group is thrown into conflict at the unforeseen happening.
Stephen scorns the mushy sentimentality of his comrades
urging them to act unflinchingly. Jamaal backs out of
operations, unwilling to bear a cross for the cause. And
as Hari comes to terms with his guilt, Narayanettan plans
of a second coming.
Hari succeeds this time, vanquishing his fears. He's apprehended
by the police and sentenced to death. Refusing the conditional
offer of amnesty, Hari now looks forward to his end. In
his coming-of-age as a revolutionary, he's had to shed
his gentler nature, subdue his inclination for the finer
things in life - and become, like his brethren - a hardened
man. Aruna agonizes over the inevitable change the cause
has wrought. In Stephen's account of Hari's hanging, she
sees clearly his liberation from the bondage that the
inhuman cause was.
The doors of the dingy warehouse are flung open; a blinding
daylight gushes into its recesses. The prospect of another
killing is irresistible in its aftermath - the blissful
ending of conflict. And therein lies the beginnings of
a new dawn.
"Of a cold night, I too shall fall
to earth with a thud; never a regret - simply, overwhelmingly
grateful."
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