the enthusiasm of Unni and the mature and supportive attitude of Ramakrishnan. Devaki gives birth to a girl but dies during childbirth. Ramakrishnan's wife does not seem to be interested in children much less in one she considers being a source of shame. In the absence of anyone to take care of the child, Unni steps in to foster the child, who is named Meenakshi. Soon after in a heated moment, Unni scolds his father and Easwara Pillai leaves town as he is devastated by the recent happenings. This leaves Unni with the double responsibility of being a brother as well as father to Meenakshi. Unni breaks off his relationship with Meera upon Meera's father's request as he feels the child will always be a source for problems in their relationship. Unni goes ahead with it as he feels Meenakshi needs him and there's no one else to take that role. The story then comes back to the present as Meenakshi is a grown girl preparing for her 10th-grade exams. Unni has regressed to village life after he chose to play Meenakshi's brother-father. Over the years Unni has become possessive of Meenakshi as she has been the centre of his existence. When it comes time for Meenakshi to go to the city and stay in a hostel to continue her studies, Unni goes through a trying period before finally coming to terms with the inevitable. In the city, Meenakshi is exposed to a new culture and fashions that she was not aware of when growing up in the village and she becomes enamoured in it. Meenakshi becomes involved in the city lifestyle, even meeting with Ramakrishnan's wife, who was surprised to see her grow up and adapted to the city culture and fashion. Ramakrishnan's wife is also involved in changing Meenakshi into a complete modern girl by sending her to competitions and beauty pageants. This causes friction between her and Unni leading to fights and hostile encounters when they meet. Meenakshi moves to the city and Unni follows her to apologize but sees her involved in an accident, the cause for which has his small role. Meenakshi survives the accident and Ramakrishnan chastises her for ignoring Unni who gave up his dreams for her. Meenakshi repents and goes back to the village to meet with Unni where she realizes that he has become mentally unbalanced after the trauma of seeing