Songs from Harischandra (1955)

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.

Thiramala(1953), Naushad, Anokhi Ada (1948) and a paperboat.

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.