The film is different from many of Aravindan's earlier works in that it deals with a broad range of characters and lacks a clear-cut linear story.
There is a palpable hum of excitement as the village Panchayath, led by the Brahmin landlord (M. S. Thripunithura), is determined to bring the benefits of electricity to this backward place.
As the story unfolds, it introduces us to an array of characters in the village...the Communist tailor (Krishnankutty Nair) given to fiery speeches, laced with quotations; the landlord's manager Raman (Thilakan); Kuttan, the odd job man, hitching his star to the influential newcomers; the wise school teacher, the adolescent boy and girl; the braggart overseer...
The vela or the festival of the local temple is a symbol of the harmony that prevailed in the village in those pre-electricity days.
He displays a taste for the arts and theatricals, forms an amateur group and earnestly begins rehearsing for a romantic play about separated lovers.
Jose is a bright, ambitious boy who plans to leave the village to work outside Kerala, once the coming festival is over.
The doctor, who has finalised marriage negotiations with the manager's daughter is unmasked - as a quack and a would-be bigamist to boot.
Before the larger calamity strikes, there is a symbolic burial of the beautiful temple lamppost, whose wick was ceremonially lit every evening.
At the temple festival every year, Kuttan traditionally dons the vestments of the Kali, the avenging goddess.
The cry of the innocent victim is drowned by the pyrotechnical dazzle of the festival fireworks, which are sparked off in the melee — a parable of nuclear holocaust.
[3] Oridathu can be seen as a continuation of Aravindan's earlier film Thampu (The Circus Tent, 1978) and his cartoon series Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum (The Small Man and the Big World).
[4] Thampu, shot in black and white in a direct documentary mode, dealt with the roving street circus of Kerala.
[5] Cheriya Manushyarum Valiya Lokavum, published in Mathrubhumi for several years, dealt with the adventures of the central characters Ramu and Guruji, mingled with political and social satires.