Thiramala (1953), based on the short story ‘Choondakkaran‘ by TN Gopinathan Nair, the celebrated literary icon of Kerala, also introduced the singer Shantha P Nair and the legendary Adoor Bhasi to Malayalam Cinema. I think this was also the first movie with a different climax, for the the North and the Southern audiences of Kerala. Of the 13-odd songs, which was more or less imitations of Hindi tunes of yore, P Bhaskaran should have been at his wits end, penning lyrics that some how came across very amusing when married to the tune.
One of the most popular ‘tunes’ has to be Hey Kaliyodamey ( Hello, paper boat), which I seriously think could have done equally well without the Hey, musically or otherwise.
It sounds very amusing for for the 1950’s.
A straight lift-off from Naushad‘s Kyon unhe dil diya in Anokhi Ada (1948), sung by Surendra (one of my personal favorites), and the ethereal Naseem Bano.
Song: Hey Kaliyodamey
Film : Thiramala(1953).
Sung by : K Abdul Khader and Shantha P Nair
Lyrics : P Bhaskharan
Music : Vimal Kumar.
Song: Kyon unhe dil diya
Film : Anokhi Ada(1948).
Sung by : Surendra
Lyrics : Shakeel Badayuni
Music : Naushad
OLD MALAYALAM CINEMA 
When I was a student of Maharajas college, Ernakulam in 1959-63 I had an opportunity to be a family friend of MR. R.K.Pillai [Cashewnut board] His children Prabha,Radhakrishnan.Chandrika had acted as kids in the film I
On June 3rd 2013 , a programme is being conducted in Cochin by Azad Club remembering the movie Thiramala . Programme is titled “” Thiramala Punarjanikkunnu “” ( Rebirth of Thiramala ) . It is advised that the veteran actor Mr.Thomas Bureligh will honour the gathering with his presence . Will be a musical programme in which the Songs from the movie will be rendered with Full live band to accompany . Come and enjoy !!!!
Thomas Burleigh Kurishingal acted as the hero in Thiramala, while Sathyan acted as a villain. Thomas Bureligh is now at Cochin, and recently a biography was published about him titled HOLLYWOOD ORU MAREECHIKA. the book was written by Kiran Ravindran.