A Slender Smile

An elderly married couple celebrates life by finding happiness in each and everything. Oru Cheru Punchiri tells the story of a retired estate manager Krishna Kuruppu (Oduvil Unnikrishnan) in his mid seventies and his wife Ammalukutty (Nirmala Sreenivasan) in her mid sixties continuing their married life in a honeymoon mood. This couple wake up to romantic mornings dense with sweet herbal aroma with the melodious music of birds as the background. They spend their time engaged in games of mischief and even some social activities that they could manage. They make it clear that they would never surrender to the plea of their children coated in love, to sell the ancestral property in the village and move to the city with them. They are happy doing agriculture in the land they own. They have some good neighbours in Janu (Roslyn), her daughter Malathi (sindhu) and helper-boy Kannan (Master Vignesh). Krishna Kuruppu was instrumental in Janu getting a sweeper's job in the Urban bank there. He also sponsors for Kannan's education. Krishna Kuruppu helps Bhaskaran (Jayakrishnan) get a job in the estate he worked. He also arranges the marriage of Bhaskaran and Nirmala. He also supports the love affair of his granddaughter Beena (Lena) with a Muslim youth. The movie ends with Ammalukutty's decision to continue with this celebration of life even after the death of Krishna Kuruppu. —Shebin Philip