Text credit: Charishma Thankappan

One of the most monumental personages in Malayalam cinema, Padmarajan left his mark upon an entire generation of films. The 1980s can hence be easily called the golden period of Mollywood, marked by the genius of Padmarajan, along with other luminous filmmakers such as Bharathan and Priyadarshan. His films are known for radiant women characters in bold roles never seen before and seldom seen since. Here’s a look at some of his scintillating films:

Shalini Ente Koottukaari (1980)

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The film revolves around the life of Shalini, played by actress Shobha. Her story is narrated by her close friend Ammu, characterized by actress Jalaja. Shalini has been an emotional wreck, living under her unyielding father and her step-mother. She therefore gravitates towards her college life to seek solace. Her woe is aggravated by the suicide of her brother. She goes on to fall in love with a lecturer in her college, played by Sukumaran. But the nature of their relationship, that of a student and teacher causes a social stir. Despite ignoring the society, the lovers are never able to get married as Shalini passes away, succumbing to brain tumour.

Desatanakkili Karayarilla (1986)

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Directed by Padmarajan, the film is the story about two schoolgirls who elope. The film has a sterling star cast of Mohanlal, Urvashi, Karthika, and Shaari. It is one of the first Indian films that explored womance on screen. The film was an instant hit and was welcomed by the audience.

Thoovanathumbikal (1987)

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A film that generations of Malayali men grew up on and hold close to their heart, Thoovanathumbikal gifted the Malayali audience the sparkling character of Clara, who has perhaps been unrivalled by any other woman character in Mollywood. Written and directed by Padmarajan, it is considered one of his best creations. The film is a love triangle between Jayakrishnan (Mohanlal), his fiancé Radha (Parvathy), and Clara (Sumalatha), the escort with whom Jayakrishnan falls in love.

Moonnam Pakkam (1988)

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Another gem written and directed by Padmarajan, this film is one of the classics of Malayalam cinema and showcases the true genius of the man. The film is a heart wrenching depiction of a grandfather’s unbearable loss of his grandson. Thilakan, who plays Thampi, delivers one of the most stellar performances of his career.

Njan Gandharvan (1991)

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One of the most rare successful fantasy stories in Malayalam cinema, the film was heartily embraced by the audience. It is the story of a young girl Bhama (Suparna Anand) who is besotted with her obsessive love for a celestial lover (Nitish Bharadwaj). Her imagined sweetheart is one who appears only to her out of a wooden statue. The film also featured great music.

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Interview by Suhas KM   Translated by: Shilpa Ann Stanley   Words by: Charishma Thankappan

Delivering much talked about characters and films like Cocktail, Left Right Left, and Ee Adutha Kalathu; editor turned director Arun Kumar Aravind speaks about his journey and his latest film Kaattu.

What interested you to work for Kaattu when you heard the script?

It’s been 17 years that Kaatu script has been written. I am very close to Anandhapadmanabhan and we had discussed a few scripts. And I think around a year and a half back, Murali Gopy had mentioned that Pappan has a script and he asked me to listen to that. If you ask me what attracted me to this script is, the milieu. The story is set in the ‘70s and ‘80s, where there was no electricity; technology hadn’t come up. So we wanted to revisit that era and show it to the present generation.

The legendary director Padmarajan’s stamp is there in this movie Kaattu. How challenging was it for you?

It was a great responsibility for me when I chose Padmarajan’s characters in this movie. I wanted to ensure that nothing should go wrong. And now the responses which we are getting are more than our expectations. To portray that particular period, I think we have used all the technicalities. We have taken all the shots in the brand new camera Arri XST. We have used master prime lenses for that and the sound has been done by Dolby Atmos. To recreate the ‘70s and ‘80s, I think all the departments have worked really hard for this.

What made you choose Asif Ali to do the role Noohakannu?

When I heard the description of the character of Noohakannu, I was well convinced that Asif was appropriate for that role. When I discussed the role with him, he quickly felt like doing the film. And moreover, we were confident enough with him because he could easily transform into Noohakannu’s mannerism and physicality.

I have noticed that all your heroes have shades of grey and are not categorised in black or white. Why so?

It’s nothing like I wanted to create those ‘grey-shaded characters’. We’ll always see people’s positive face. But each and every one of us has a negative aspect too. So it becomes natural if we reproduce them in movies in a realistic way.

Critics have pointed out that your characters take a lot of time to get established, as either positive or negative. What do you have to say about this?

In my view, the story is carried out through my characters. So if there is no substance in them, and if they are not able to transform into that appropriate character I don’t think the audience will be able to accept the plot or the movie. And furthermore, we have different kinds of audiences too. Some audience can accept the characters even before they are established. But there are some audiences who need detailing in characters.

Following three hit movies, you returned with the movie 1 BY 2, casting Murali Gopi and Fahad Fasil. Almost everybody was expecting the movie to be a huge success, but unfortunately, it didn’t do well. What do you think could have been the reason?

I don’t consider it is an average movie. People have expectations once a movie is released. And I think this movie couldn’t meet people’s expectation. This might be the reason of failure. I should state that I have put the same effort in this movie too.

Was it the failure of 1 BY 2 that made you wait for another three years for your next movie?

Whatever it is, be it success or failure, it doesn’t affect me. I am a person who thoroughly hands over my movie to the audience after the making. Thereafter, it is their choice to accept it or not. Every movie is a learning process for me.

Your combination with Murali is a known hit combination in the Malayalam movie industry. How did it start?

I approached Murali to act in one of my movies. After that, we had a lot of conversations on many subjects. Ee Aduthakalathu was one of them and I was really impressed by the storyline. I asked Murali to write the script for that, which initially he denied because he wasn’t very confident about writing a script after the failure of the movie Rasikan. With time, after we started talking to each other, we understood that we have the same vibe. We are looking forward to more movies together in future.

When did you consider shifting your career from editing to direction?

When I started my career, I never had any plans to become a director. After editing almost 30 films, I thought of making a film and I was interested in learning direction. It was while doing the movie ‘Kaanichivaram’ that I finally decided to try out direction.

Your production Vedi Vazhipaadu faced a lot of problems because of the censor board. What is your impression about the interference of the censor board?

The censor board doesn’t have any authority to chop a movie; they have the authority to only give film certification. Today, I think almost everyone can see all sorts of videos which are accessible on the internet. So I really don’t get it as to why the censor board is demanding to cut a few scenes and several dialogues from movies. They claim that it affects the audience in many ways. Actually what censor board is doing is something which is not satisfactory. Do they think that our audiences are fools to follow what they see on screens? Our audience is knowledgeable and intelligent enough to take the movie as it is.

Actors like Indrajith, Murali Gopy, Jayasurya, and now Asif Ali have had the best performances of their careers in your films. What’s the secret behind it?

I’m happy to hear that. All actors should be like clay so that the director can mould them according to how the character should be. If you give a defined character, they will be able to deliver their utmost performances.

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