Scaling New Heights

Meet Sreenivasan – The Master Craftsman of Malayalam Movie

Malayalam actor Sreenivasan is a phenomenon. He is a great actor, has written screen play for so many great movies and directed a couple of them which were super hits. He has been the part and parcel of the Malayalam movie industry from 1977 when he acted in his first movie Manimuzhakkam. From then on there was no looking back for this great personality.

Sreenivasan’s movies depict the common man’s woes in the most comical way possible. See any of his movies and each character in his movie will depict someone we know. That is the greatness of this man.

Malayalis love this guy. Like Jagathy Sreekumar, very few recognize this great man outside Kerala. Very few of my movie crazy friends from outside Kerala know there is a versatile actor cum script writer cum director called Sreenivasan. Even after Kuselan was released very few Tamilians knew who Sreenivasan was. So this post is mainly intended for those people who don’t know this guys talent. For ardent Sreenivasan fans this post is to sit back and enjoy some of his great acting and well thought out scenes.

Let me start with first of his two directorial ventures – Vadakunokki Yantram. In that movie he depicts the role of a husband who always doubts his wife. This super hit movie got the Kerala state government award for the best movie of the year 1989. The scene below shows the first night of the character “Thalathil Dineshan”. He approaches a writer to help him frame some sentences to tell his wife during his first night. He memorized all the dialogues the writer told him and is repeating it before his wife comes to the room. Without his knowledge his wife comes to the room and hears everything. If you can understand Malayalam you can never stop laughing seeing this scene.

Whenever Sreenivasan and Mohanlal have teamed together it has resulted in great movies. Keralites just love watching them together. They have given so many super hits. See one of their greatest hits – Sanmanasullavarkku Samadhanam (Yei Thera Ghar Yei Mera Ghar in Hindi).

Another super hit from Mohanlal Sreenivasan combo – Nadodikattu – that in the first part depicts the life of unemployed youths in our state. Here Mohanlal and Sreenivasan, two unemployed youth are trying various ways to make both ends meet. More than his acting it is the script of Sreenivasan that is commendable in this movie.

We all know Malayalis are very politically conscience people. Assume if two brothers (enacted by Jayaram and Sreenivasan) in same house are followers of different parties? The problem the family faces is depicted the most humorous way possible in the movie Sandesham that got state award for Sreenivasan for the best story in the year 1991. Here is a scene from that movie. A perfect morning when both brothers are in the house – one of the Sreenivasan’s best script.

Priyadarshan and Mohanlal owe a lot to Sreenivasan to their rise to stardom. Sreenivasan penned the script for most of the initial hits of Mohanlal’s and Priyadarshan’s career. Most of the remakes Priyadarshan made in Hindi were the movies originally written by Sreenivasan (Saat Rang Ke Sapne, Yeh Tera Ghar Yeh Mera Ghar, Hungama, Garam Masala, Billo Barber to name a few). Here is a master piece of the quadruple – Mohanlal, Priyadarshan, Sreenivasan and Jagathy – every Malayali has seen this scene and love to see it again and again – from the movie “Mazha Peyunnu Madalam Kottunnu” – “In the house of my wife and daughter, you will not see any minute of the today, erangipodaaa. GET OUT HOUSE.”

If you think Sreenivasan can only act in comedy roles you are fully mistaken. Give him any role and he will enact it to perfection. Here is a clip from the movie “Thakarachenda’ for which he got special mention from the film jury in the year 2006. In this movie he enacts the role of a one legged beggar Chakrapani to perfection. Here is a glimpse of that movie.

Another great movie by Sreenivasan – Arabikatha directed by Lal Jose, written and main role played by Sreenivasan. Another example of a movie that shows Sreenivasan’s ability to depict real life problems in a very simple way.

The journey Sreenivasan started in 1977 in Malayalam movie industry is going places with this great man giving us hits after hits. Let us pray to almighty to give him strength and health to give us all more and more great movies.

Labels: Comedy, Jagathy Sreekumar, Malayalam Movie, Mohanlal, Priyadarshan, Sreenivasan