This article is about the 1992 film. For the novel the film is based on, see
God's Mischief.
Daivathinte Vikrithikal (Malayalam: ദൈവത്തിന്റെ വികൃതികള്, transl. Mischiefs of God) is a 1992 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Lenin Rajendran, who also co-wrote the screenplay with M. Mukundan, based on Mukundan's novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Alphonso, a man who chooses to suffer a slow, torturous life in his little village, Mahe, in preference to fortunes and pleasures away from it. The film stars Raghuvaran, Srividya, Rajan P. Dev and Malavika.
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Raghuvaran was shortlisted for the National Film Award for Best Actor, along with Mithun Chakraborty (for Tahader Katha), but Chakraborty won the award.[citation needed]
The story begins in 1954, when the French, the colonial rulers were packing off from Mahé, a coastal town in North Malabar, after 230 years, leaving behind remnants of a cultural history. Those, who considered themselves as belonging to Francophone culture, jumped onto the first available vessel to France.
Alphonso ignored the repeated pleas of his wife, Maggi to leave the land, where they no longer "belonged". The new social order became more, suffocating as Alphonso's earnings (as a "magician" of sorts) dwindled. The arrival of their son, Michael, from France revived hopes of a life without poverty, but Michael went back, leaving behind counterfeit gold and plunging the Alphonso family in deeper debts. Daughter Elsie's affair with Sasi became a local scandal.
Alphonso decided to leave, but the decision hung in the air. Alphonso looked around in the realization that he cannot tear himself away from Mahé and the river to which he belonged. Mahé was within him even in a society, where he had no reason for the sense of belonging. In a way, the film reveals what is now described as authentic "ethnicity".