India, Nov. 21 -- Vilaayath Budha unfolds in the picturesque valley of Marayoor, where we meet Bhaskaran (Shammi Thilakan), a schoolteacher-turned-Panchayat President hoping for another term in office. But his political fortunes take a spectacular hit when, on a fateful night, he slips and falls into a pit of excreta - an accident made infinitely worse because it happens in the premises of the local prostitute. The stench clings to him, and so does the scandal, as his rivals seize the opportunity to weaponise it and tarnish his reputation. The humiliation burrows so deeply into his psyche that Bhaskaran becomes convinced that only death can truly wash him clean. In a moment of warped clarity, he decides that the sandalwood tree in his own...