PremiumWhat’s the point of yakshi in Bramayugam? Fan theories flood internet before its OTT release
While Bramayugam was universally acclaimed, Amalda Liz’s character of yakshi has been hot topic of discussion with the film’s OTT release nears
Last Updated: 04.58 PM, Mar 13, 2024
‘What’s the point of yakshi?’ – That’s the question that was most asked even as Mammootty’s Bramayugam was praised by critics and audiences alike. Amalda Liz’s character of a yakshi, who makes a brief appearance in two scenes in the Rahul Sadasivan supernatural drama, has been a topic of discussion – with critics claiming that the sole woman in the film didn’t get her due and the audiences wondering why she was there in the first place.
In fact, most of the threads on social media platforms such as YouTube and Reddit had fans discussing this in detail, with many offering their varied interpretations of the character – each adding a different layer to the story.
With Bramayugam’s OTT release just days away – the film is set to drop on Sony LIV and OTTplay Premium on March 15 in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, here are some interesting theories that can also aid the viewers while watching (or re-watching) the movie on the streaming platform.
‘Yakshi in Bramayugam is a red herring and plot device’
A Reddit user posted that Rahul used Amalda’s character as a plot device – because she’s the reason that Arjun Ashokan’s character gets lost in the forest and reaches Kodumon Potti’s ancestral home, where he seeks shelter. The red herring bit, the user explains, comes in the latter half of the film where the director wants the audience to believe that Mammootty’s character derives power from yakshi through dark magic and also controls her.
While the plot device is true, the bit about the red herring is somewhat open to interpretation, as Rahul, in a post-release interview, said that the particular sequence of the Potti and yakshi making love could be a figment of Arjun Ashokan’s character Thevan’s imagination – as the very next scene cuts to him waking up. This is why another argument that Potti being a powerful being who can also control yakshi might not hold up.
‘Yakshi and Kodumon Potti worked hand in hand’
Another theory suggested that yakshi’s purpose, apart from working with the chaathan to bring Thevan to the house, also highlighted that Potti had already “written his fate” even before he met him. This holds up, considering the movie has a line where Potti says, “What’s written cannot be changed.”
A more plausible interpretation came from another Reddit user, saying that it’s to show the audience that the story is set in a world where supernatural figures such as yakshis and chaathans existed, easing the audience into that realm.
Meanwhile, another user on YouTube suggested that yakshi represented “money and wealth”, and that’s how she enchanted an oppressed man (Manikandan) and killed him. “It’s an ode to ‘poor becomes poorer’, but yakshi comes on her own to Kodumon Potti, symbolizing that the ‘rich become richer’.”
With several theories, not just about yakshi, but also about the ring of power and the multiple layers of information yet to be mined in Bramayugam, its OTT release will offer viewers more opportunities to rewatch and reinterpret.