Harischandra (1955)’s huge success, I guess, was also partly because of that one fabulous number Aathmavidyalayamey, sung by Kamukara Purushothaman, who had his debut in film playback singing for Ponkathir ( 1953), a home production of Merry Land, under Neela Productions. There were a total of 16 songs, written by Thirunayinaarkurichi Madhavan Nair and set to music by Br Lakshmanan, the hit pair of that era. Aatmavidyalayamey, seems to be inspired by the beautiful Sanskrit Kriti, Manasa Sancharare composed by Sadashiva Brahmendra in the 18th Century.
The first in the series of the KPAC plays to be adapted on to the silver screen, the popularity of KPAC’s play which debuted in 1957 helped in its own way fuel up the popularity of its screen version too. The movie was produced by TK Pareekutty for his Chandrathara Productions, and was the debut of Ramu Kariat, Adoor Bhasi and S.Konnat – the art director who would later become a staple for all of Udaya’s productions, specially the Vadakkan Pattukal. The main roles of the village rebel Rajan was played by Sathyan ( O Madhavan in the stage version), his lady love Chellamma was Miss Kumari( KPAC Sulocahana in the stage adaptation), and the play had even won the the Kerala Sahitya Academy award for best literary work in the drama category in 1959. 
Nithya Vishudhayam Kanya Mariyamey, the waltzy chorale from Nadi (1969) has always been a fond memory. Not just the fact that it symbolized a unique aspect of Old Malayalam Cinema – the transfer of the adapted Christian faith’s music into mainstream musical compositions in films. I don’t think there has ever been an other regional film industry that has so seamlessly integrated organized religion into the main fabric of the narratives and as a result given us memorable compositions, be it Christian chorale, or ones that reflected the sanctity of the temple sanctorum, or for that matter the intensity of the faithful that assimilate their energy from the al-Masjid al-Haraam.
OLD MALAYALAM CINEMA 