Prithviraj Sukumaran in still life from ‘Vilayath Buddha’ | Photo credit: Magic Frames/YouTube
Even movies that don’t turn out exactly as their creators envisioned can leave us with a few moments of magic, just like a broken clock that once in a while makes the time right. Jayan Nambiar’s directorial debut Vilayath Buddha features some compelling characters caught in unusual situations that lend an unlikely depth to what is otherwise a run-of-the-mill mass entertainer lacking any novelty.
One of the characters happens to be Bhaskaran (Shammi Thilakan), a former teacher and panchayat president whose calling card is his squeaky clean image. On the eve of the panchayat elections, this image will take an irreparable hit. We see him struggling to cope with this fall as it takes a toll on his mental makeup. Before long, the intense desire to repair his image turns into an obsession centered around a sandalwood tree, the eponymous Vilayath Buddha, whose fragrance he believes will be his eternal legacy after his death.
Chaithanya (Priyamvada) is also eager to distance herself from the bad name she inherited as the daughter of a former sex worker. Marrying Double Mohanan (Prithviraj), a sandalwood smuggler and local Robin Hood, is her idea of redemption. In a way, her obsession with losing the stain of her background and moving up in life keeps Mohanan from turning away from crime. She acts as a sort of hindrance to him, weakening his crazy personality and occasionally driving him to further violence.
Vilayath Buddha (Malayalam)
Directed by Jayan Nambiar
Cast: Prithviraj, Priyamvada Krishnan, Shammi Thilakan, Anu Mohan, Pramod Veliyanand
Duration: 176 minutes
Plot: A rare sandalwood tree becomes the focus of a conflict between a politician who sees himself as a tool for his redemption and a sandalwood smuggler who could provide money for his dream project.
These are the kind of immersive elements one wouldn’t associate with a typical mass entertainer, but the film’s larger-than-life ambitions are ultimately wasted. GR Indugopan, who wrote the story on which the film is based, along with co-screenwriter Rajesh Pinnadan lean more towards the pulp side of things, much of which are familiar recreations from many films in the genre. The ego-clash template that became the core of Sacha’s Driving License and Ayyappanum Koshiyum is again deployed in Vilayath Buddha, but there are several other parallel tracks that draw our attention away from it.
A scene from Vilayath Buddha.
The film is riddled with blemishes, which contributes in no small part to its clumsy three-hour running time. For example, there is the character of the judge (Suraj Venjaramoodu), whose interactions with Mohanan do not add much to the larger narrative, or the presence of a duo of sandalwood smugglers, which is just an unnecessary background to the central conflict. Still, Shammi Thilakan’s performance reminiscent of his famous father prevents the film from being a memorable affair.
Although Vilayath Buddha has some strong plot points that could have made it an effective drama, its mass masala aspirations, which it also fails to deliver, bring the film down.
Vilayath Buddha is currently running in theaters
Published – 23 Nov 2025 20:42 IST
