‘Neelakkuyil’, the landmark Malayalam film, gets a stage adaptation

Neelakkuyil the classic Malayalam film gets a theatrical adaptation on its 70th anniversary

October 22, 1954, was a red letter day in the history of Malayalam cinema. The day saw the release of Neelakkuyil, which eventually became the first South Indian film to receive national awards — All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film and President’s Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. Above all, the film, based on a novel by litterateur Uroob and directed by veterans P Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat, saw Malayalam cinema finding its own feet. The industry, which till then took plots from Tamil or Hindi cinema and churned out stories that had little connection with its milieu, came up with a narrative that reflected on the times, thus becoming a flagbearer of neo-realism.

On December 29, a group of amateur theatre practitioners and artists in Thiruvananthapuram under Theatron Today will stage a theatrical adaptation of the landmark movie. The film tells the story of Neeli (Miss Kumari), a Dalit woman, who gets pregnant out of wedlock after falling in love with an upper caste Hindu, Sreedharan Nair (Sathyan). He refuses to marry her fearing societal pressure and Neeli is thrown out of her community. She dies giving birth to a boy, who is adopted and taken care of by a postman, Sankaran Nair (P Bhaskaran). A guilt-ridden Sreedharan, who by then had married Nalini (Prema), finally accepts the boy as his own.

“We are presenting the play to celebrate the film’s 70th anniversary and the birth centenary of Bhaskaran master. This drama is also a tribute to PK Pareekutty of Chandrathara Productions who had the conviction to invest in a project that was different from the films being made during that time. He wanted to make a film that was rooted in Kerala,” says CV Premkumar, director of the play. He adds that while renowned theatre group, KPAC, had staged a production based on the novel by Uroob, this work is completely based on the film.

A classic with popular appeal and aesthetic value, Neelakkuyil was talked about for portraying contentious issues such as caste discrimination, untouchability and ill-treatment of women. “These vices continue to prevail in present-day society, sometimes in an inconspicuous way. In fact, we live in a time when honour killings still happen. That is why the movie has not lost its relevance,” Premkumar observes.

Cinematographer Vipin Mohan, who played a child artiste in the film, is perhaps the only surviving actor of the cast. He was honoured at this year’s International Film Festival of Kerala when the film was screened in memory of P Bhaskaran.

Written by RS Madhu, the production has photojournalist Jithesh Damodar and classical dancer Sithara Balakrishnan donning the key roles. Other artistes are Vanchiyoor Praveen Kumar, Sajana Chandran, Manjith, Rajula Mohan, Sreelakshmy, Sankarankutty Nair and Master Kasinathan among others. The group has been rehearsing for the past three months.

The nine songs of the film, written by Bhaskaran and composed by K Raghavan, remain evergreen, especially the ones such as ‘Ellaarum chollanu’, ‘Engane nee marakkum’, ‘Kayalarikathu’, ‘Kuyiline thedi’ and ‘Maanenum vilikkilla’. The songs have been retained for the play, which has a duration of over two-and-a-half hours.