Classic Picks | A Vincent | Bhargavi Nilayam (1964)
Sridevi – Kamal Haasan in Malayalam Cinema | Satyavan Savithri (1977)
Poombatta’s Songs (1971) | G Devarajan, Sound of Music, RocknRoll and King Shibi
Maane Maane from Swapnam (1973), Tarun Bandopadhaya and the stately Nandita Bose.
Onnu Muthal Poojyam Varey (1986)
“ Dasan : Vijayaa, namukkentha ee budhdhi neerathe thonnaththatu?
Vijayan : Ellathunum athintethaya samayamundu Dasaa”
Those words that reverberate across each Malayalee’s mind are going to make a comeback. In an exclusive interview to Narayan Radhakrishnan for Old Malayalam Cinema, Sreenivasan opens his mind. Continue reading
Pix Credit : sjanaki.net
The late 50′s fifties saw the entry of a 19-year old singer capturing everyone’s attention with her magical voice, easily traversing thehighest and the lowest octaves with ease. Sishtla Sreeramamurthy Janaki, popularly now known as S Janaki had the looks that could light up the silver screen. Yet she chose to stay behind it lending her voice to almost all the leading ladies of her times, across all south Indian movie productions, for starters.
Though her debut ( first released movie) was Citadel’s Magnalanattu Mary (1957) – a duet with PB Srinivas, what shot her into prominence in Tamil was Konjum Salangai (1962). Legend has it that S M Subbiah Naidu, who was in the look out for a singer to sing his challenging song Singara Velanin Deva for the film Konjum Salangai (1962), where the singer had to match or rather compete with the Nadaswaram, was recommended this young lady’s name by none other than P Leela, a proficient classical vocalist herself who was offered the song in the first place. With not much of classical training, young Janaki’s performance got noticed by the South Indian film fraternity. Continue reading
Iruttinte Athmavu – Velayudhan undergoes another exorcism
Malayalam cinema has always been inspired by the complexity of the human mind. Its narrative has been powered by the need to understand man’s innermost drives. It has closely looked at what motivates people and how people go about their lives, driven by these motives. Portrayal of the different personality types that we see around us and the behavior that is unique to each of these has been the central theme of most of these narratives. It is therefore not surprising that a good many Malayalam movies incorporated mental health themes into their storylines. Continue reading
Two decades have passed since Manichithrathazhu ( 1993 ) was released. But Nagavalli, with her fiery eyes and supernatural prowess, remains vivid in our minds. However, this movie was not about a bloodthirsty spirit coming alive. It was about a mental disorder that goes by the name of dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder) – a disorder that in the Indian context, has often been looked upon as spiritual possession. Continue reading
Sarada and Baby Sumathi in Nadhi (1969)
Children love stories. It is a great way to calm them down after a hectic day, and to get them to eat, or to get them to sleep. As a child, my Mum and my older sister told me stories, be it from the Bible (Mum), or from literary classics like Jane Eyre or the Count of Monte Christo (adapted deftly to a five-year-old’s level of understanding by my sister). It would be told in instalments every night, and much like a reality TV show of today, would finish for the day frustratingly at the most interesting and suspenseful moment – “The rest tomorrow” (ബാക്കി ഇനി നാളെ). Continue reading
The P Bhaskaran Foundation, based out of Kodungallur, is paying tribute to arguably the greatest combination of “Poet, Playwright, Lyricist, Actor, Broadcaster, Cine Director, Film Producer, T.V. Producer, Tele-caster, Intellectual and a Humanist” from Kerala on 25th February 2013, 4 pm onwards at the Police Station Grounds, Kodungallur. Continue reading
T D Kusalakumari in and as Seetha (1960)
Cross-dressing onscreen in Indian cinema isn’t anything new, in fact it has been one of the reliable tools of generating guffaws in an onscreen narrative when the going is tepid or lack-lustre. Same has been the case with Malayalam cinema too, and more so owing to strong, polarised, testosterone-dripping “maleness” that have come to be associated with the onscreen leading personas since the past six decades – ever since we got the “bi-polar successions” of Sathyan – Prem Nazir, Mohanlal – Mammootty and hopefully it would end with the last. Continue reading
വിഗ്രഹാരാധനയില് വിശ്വാസമില്ലാത്ത ഒരു സത്യവിശ്വാസി . “മതം മനുഷ്യനെ മയക്കുന്ന കറുപ്പാണ്” എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞ തത്വങ്ങളെ മുറുകെ പിടിച്ചിരുന്ന ഒരു അസ്സല് ഇടതു പക്ഷ ചിന്തകന്. സ്വാഭാവികമായും ഇങ്ങനെ ഒരാളില് നിന്ന് ഒരു ഭക്തി ഗാനം പ്രതീക്ഷിക്കാമോ ?
ദൈവം ഇല്ല എന്ന് ഉറക്കെ പറയുമ്പോഴും ദൈവം ഉണ്ട് എന്നതിന്റെ തെളിവായിരുന്നു ആ പ്രതിഭ ! മലയാള സിനിമ കണ്ടതില് വച്ച് ഏറ്റവും നല്ല അയ്യപ്പ ഭക്തി ഗാനങ്ങള് തിരഞ്ഞെടുത്താല് “ശബരിമലയില് തങ്കസൂര്യോദയം” എന്നും ആദ്യത്തെ ഒന്നിലോ രണ്ടിലോ വരും. എന്നു കരുതി അത് കൊണ്ട് വയലാര് രാമവര്മ എന്ന മനുഷ്യന് ദൈവ വിശ്വാസി ആണെന്ന് കരുതണ്ട . കാരണം അതേ ചിത്രത്തില് തന്നെ “ഒരു കുപ്പി കള്ളടിച്ചാല് ഈശ്വരന് പിണങ്ങുമെങ്കില് ചുമ്മാ പിണങ്ങി ക്കൊട്ടെ“ എന്നും പറയുന്നുണ്ട്. Continue reading
