The lone hotel owner in Mullankolli village decides to put a board for his hotel with the name in both Malayalam and Tamil. No, says Velayudhan (Mohanlal), a local thug. A man comes to sell fish which is kind of rotten. The buyers have no problems with it, but the man cannot sell fish, says Velayudhan. When someone challenges him, he beats him to pulp. As his symbol, he puts a stick on the ground, like a totem and challenges anyone to touch it. Apparently Mullamkolli exists in a place where no one has heard of Indian Penal Code and personal freedom.
How can you have heard of it when the place itself is isolated and to get there one has to cross a river by boat. Occasionally there is flooding in the river and trees comes floating down it. Velayudhan's main job is to jump into the river, collect those trees and sell it for a good income. Though he dictates others on how to run their business, he runs a toddy shop, but it is alright, since there are some rules for the shop, like the Ten Commandments.
Due to Velayudhan's thuggery, there is law and order in the village and outsiders and insiders seldom do mischief and women are not harassed. He also sleeps in the veranda of a prostitute Kunnil Shanta (Sona Nair), so that she is not troubled. Where else can you find such a lovable thug with a heart of gold other than in such movies. Due to this Velayudhan is loved by a lot of people, including Kelappan's (Innocent) daughter Leela (Bhavana). He also has an ex-flame, Janaki (Devayani), who got married to ration shop owner Krishnan (Maniyanpillai Raju).
Velayudhan's mother had come floating in the floods and had given birth to him and floated away. He was taken by Valiya Nambiar (Madhu), the only person whom he respects. Due to Velayudhan's moral policing, he is hated by the Panchayat Member Kurup (Jagathi Sreekumar) and Nambiar's son-in-law Gopinathan (Siddique). Both of them try to attack and discredit him many times and many people die, but ultimately the predictable happens.
Read rest of the review at:http://varnachitram.com/2006/09/22/review-naran/
