The film depicts the life of Shankaran Kutty, a carefree simpleton who eventually rises to be a mature, responsible adult.
[3] The film captures the ascent of the protagonist, Shankaran Kutty, from a carefree individual to a mature responsible adult.
Shankaran Kutty, though seemingly at the beginning of middle age, spends most of his time playing around with children, joining political processions and helping the villagers when he is not attending temple festivals.
He realizes the hard realities of human life, when the widow who used to act as a patron for him commits suicide after being cheated in love.
The director commented that the film's most important connection to the festivals is the fact that in both nothing really happens; the only notable thing in both is the very presence of the people and events.
Kodiyettam interweaves multiple aspects of a rural society with astonishing character growth of a man named Shankarankutty.
In the initial parts of the movie Shankarankutty is portrayed as an immature man who lives a life mostly unaware of what is happening around him; a poor individual who is unable to associate and indulge in his surroundings.
This fortune of not being able to see her with another man helps him to maintain ideal images of the two; a generous dutiful mother and widow Savithriyamma and the well-respected master, Sukumara Pillai.
Coming of age story of a village simpleton, told through a chain of events and characters often funny and occasionally sad, and his ultimate ascent into the responsibilities of adulthood, is the core storyline.
Adoor's restraint in using background score, practically none in this movie – I see it as a filmmaker's integrity towards a realistic representation of the life as it is.
K Venugopal of The New Indian Express writes, praising Gopy's performance in the film: "Shankarankutty was so brilliant in portrayal onscreen that it seemed absolutely natural.
If you looked deep down inside yourself, you could even find him leaning against the mudwall of your mind, giving you the gap-toothed smile that glowed from the heart.
"[5] Film critic S. Rana writes: "The film moves in a slow rhythm of rural life lingering and dwelling on little things: a man absorbed in eating, a woman washing clothes, a man chopping wood (splinters stick to his body as he wipes the perspiration) or a bullock cart driver singing a philosophical song about the vanities of the world.
"[5] The film won the following awards: Gopi was hitherto a relatively unknown actor, though he had appeared briefly in Adoor's first movie, Swayamvaram.