12 MALAYALAM MOVIES BASED ON FAMOUS PLAYS

film Kaliyattam

Kerala has a lingering and deep-rooted tradition of theatre, dating back to the aristocratic days of Ashtapadiyattom, Koodiyattom, Krishnanattom and finally Ramanattom that would further evolve into the distinguished Kathakali. However these forms of art that back then catered only to the blue-blooded tastes of the privileged, slowly began to take up the cause of the suppressed and the downtrodden with the advent of our very own renaissance, although in its most primitive form and simpler techniques. It gradually evolved through the ups and downs as strong voices against all social injustices, perfecting the form as it progressed. Then the revolutionary theatre movement called the Kerala People’s Art Club, popularly known as KPAC, came into being, and acceptance of plays as works of art as well as strong medium of expression increased. With the prominence of films as the newest medium of art, many of their plays were successfully adapted to the silver screen, and the trend continues to this day, even if it was a non-KPAC play or a non-Malayalam play. Following is a list of such Malayalam films based on famous plays that you should check out just in case you are a huge fan of the theatre.

12. Akashagopuram 2008

K. P. Kumaran’s Akashagopuram based on one of Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s most celebrated and significant plays The Master Builder, featuring Mohanlal, Nithya Menon, Bharath Gopi and Sreenivasan is certainly not a film for everyone, not just due to Ibsen’s philosophy that critically weighs down on realism, but also for the deliberately stagey performances that renders the setting far too artificial. While the search for the actual meaning in the play itself is debated, the film’s course is also swamped with deep-rooted symbolism, and it is the heightened ambiguity that trumps in the end. But for all those movie enthusiasts who are looking for a difference, go for it.

11. Pulijanmam 2006

Based on Kerala Sahithya Akademi Award winning play of the same name by N. Prabhakaran, Pulijanmam directed by Priyanandanan and featuring Murali in the lead, conceptually is an amazing film for the intense uses of metaphor as a narrative layer, only that it falls short at some other levels. It cleverly overlaps the myth of the proficient Kaari Gurikkal, a low-caste martial arts veteran who is duped by the upper-caste landlords into transforming into a tiger, with that of various relevant social issues rampant in today’s society. The main hitch is the sheer number of those social issues it tries to include in its commentary that after a point sticks out like a sore thumb. But how does it matter; it won the National Award for Best feature film of the year!

10. Ningalenne Communistakki 1970

Coming from the black and white era, this cinematic adaptation of the famous KPAC play of the same name was a huge success across the Malayali-land and, combined with the play itself, was instrumental in deep-rooting communism in its core values, although EMS Namboothiripad was famously known to have his differences in the depictions of communists in it. Written and later adapted for the screen, and directed by noted thespian Thoppil Bhasi, Ningalenne Communistakki featuring Prem Nazir, Sheela, Sathyan and Jayabharathi in the lead is a socio-political drama film that greatly influenced Kerala’s democratic election of the communist ministry in 1957, a first in the world,

9. Poochakkoru Mookkuthi 1984

Based on Charles Dickens’ The Strange Gentleman, this Priyadarshan farce is screwball in style and labyrinthine in its network of plots and sub plots. Apparently Dickens wrote it as a practical joke and wished it to be soon forgotten although it was a huge success even in its initial run. He strongly expressed his distaste in seeing it staged ever again. Understandably, the premise was far too mindless, but it invariably presented scope for non-stop comedy albeit noisy and flashy. Corresponding to the play, Poochakkoru Mookkuthi featuring an ensemble cast including Shankar, Menaka, Mohanlal, Nedumudi Venu, Sukumari, M. G. Soman and Jagathy Sreekumar, is about confusion and after a point greatly confusing it is, and was also one of the biggest grossers of the year.

8. Kattukuthira 1990

P.G. Viswambharan’s Kattukuthira is based on the successful play of the same name by S. L. Puram Sadanandan, and is essentially a revenge drama centered on a grouchy nouveau riche called Kochuvava who is out to avenge the brutal killing of his father. This one should be watched for the remarkable performance of the acting legend Thilakan who with an impeccable shoreline accent is a treat to watch as the incorrigible Kochuvava. The role that was already made popular by the idiosyncrasies of actor Rajan P. Dev on stage got a fresh and memorable interpretation on the silver screen, although the film pretty much stuck to the original play scene-by-scene.

7. Boeing Boeing 1985

This popular Priyadarshan comedy, featuring Mohanlal and Mukesh in the lead, is based on the hugely successful farcical play Boeing Boeing written by Marc Camoletti, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most performed French play in the world.  The film stays loyal to the original gusty storyline although there are a few additional characters and a few other regional flourishes added to the existing characters. For instance the timid roommate, who messes the order of the swinging bachelor’s juggle out of naivety in the play, becomes all crafty and opportunistic in the film.

6. Thulabharam 1968

Another KPAC Play also by Thoppil Bhasi that he adapted for the screen, Thulabharam directed by A. Vincent features in the lead, Prem Nazir, Sheela, Madhu and Sahrada in the her National Film Award winning performance. This adaptation, that is as remarkably poignant as the political play if not more, also won the National Film Award for the second best feature film of the year. Minor alterations were made for the film, but it only increased the chilling aftertaste of the tragedy. It garnered nationwide popularity and was soon remade in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu, all of them faring well commercially. Sharada successfully reprised her role in all the versions.

5. Akale 2004

 Shyamaprasad’s Akale, featuring Sheela, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Geetu Mohandas in the lead, is based on Tennessee Williams’ breakthrough memory play called The Glass Menagerie about the vulnerabilities of family. Here the play is transplanted into the undercurrents of a crumbling Anglo-Indian family from Northern Kerala in the 1970s. It stays loyal to the play, and the metaphor of the broken glass unicorn to the fragile Rose D’Costa (Laura Wingfield in the play) portrayed by Geetu Mohandas, is credibly translated into the new setting. One thing to watch out for is the National Film Award winning performance of Sheela as the effervescent matriarch where for once her characteristic histrionics paid off.

4. Kannaki 2001

Jayaraj’s Kannaki is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s dark and twisted play Antony and Cleopatra that is known for its complexity and the divisive nature of the critical feedback it received over time. This Malayalam reworking translates the grandiose conflicts of Shakespeare’s Roman Republic into the gall and gore associated with the traditions of cockfight tournaments in a remote village in India, and Cleopatra becomes the enigmatic Kannaki, the manipulative resident witch doctor renowned for slaking even the deadliest snakebite, played with sensuous toxicity by Nandita Das. Although it occasionally wobbles under Lal’s exaggerated verve, Kannaki deserves a viewing for the intelligent deconstruction of the majestic Roman setting to the dirt-ridden cockfight pits of a primitive community in Kerala.

3. Thinkalazhcha Nalla Divasam 1985

This poignant drama by Padmarajan that will invariably leave a lump in your throat by the end of it is the movie adaptation of the radio play Ammakku Vendi written by Sajini Pavithran based on her own story Saranalayam.  The film featuring Mammootty, Kaviyoor Ponnamma, Karamana Janardanan and Srividya in the lead won the year’s National Film Award for Best Film in Malayalam. Padmarajan was apparently inspired by a story during his days at the All India Radio. The film is noted for the touching sketch of the evicted mother that is also arguably one of the best roles played by Kaviyoor Ponnamma to date.

2. Kanchana Sita 1977      

G. Aravindan’s experimental Kanchana Sita is based on one of the plays of the same name in C.N. Sreekantan Nair's Ramayana Trilogy, which was also the winner of the Kendra Sahitya Akademi Award in 1962. This philosophical reinterpretation of the epic Ramayana scores on primarily three aspects- one, for the brilliant concept of conceiving Sita as mother nature, two, for the stunning visual language that depicts the central metaphor, and three, for the bold use of actors from an Adivasi tribe called Rama-Chenchu from Andhra Pradesh that claims to be the actual descendants of Rama. However, the film that has major theoretical departures from the original play, gleams with a suppressed acting style that seem excessively simulated most of the time.

1. Kaliyattam 1997

Based on William Shakespeare’s scathing tragedy Othello, director Jayaraj crafted a brilliant piece of cinema called Kaliyattam that besides fetching a National Film Award for best direction deserves special praises for its outstanding transmigration to an innovative and conspicuously difficult setting. From amidst the manipulative power play in medieval Venice to the ritualistic traditions of the Theyyam cult prevalent in Northern Malabar, the idea of transplanting even the basic plot may certainly sound overambitious if not farfetched. But in turn this adaptation works with such faithful validity that we get to read the complexity of the traumatized moor right off the face of the hoodwinked Kannan Perumalayan played with refinement by Suresh Gopi in his National Award winning performance.