The Easiness of Acting.
In the world of make belief; Cinema, the prime acquiescence happens from the acting or behaving of the actors. Everything else comes second for the audience, even the technical aspects. But in the contemporary, there has been a shift for that perspective from acting to other sectors such as Direction, Cinematography, Background scores. Even though praising direction happens often, it indirectly helps the whole product the director has crafted. According to Sir Roger Deakins (Cinematographer), when audience praise cinematography in a movie, it denotes the failure of the cinematographer. Anyway, that’s another league to be talked about. In this context, we will see some fine actors from Malayalam who always forgot to act and behaved instead in front of the camera. As humour and naturality is the most difficult combo and making it as the parameter, lets check who all are those people who “behaved".
1. KPAC Lalitha
Ask me my favourite actress, I will name this magnificent, natural actress in no time. Born as Maheshwari Amma, being on stage as KPAC Lalitha (named after joining KPAC — a theatrical movement in Kayamkulam, Kerala) and from there to cinema, this actress has been monumental. The natural way she reacts to the actor facing her is what her tool for work. Be it a sentimental scene, humour, you name it and she is ready to execute it to the best. I always have been attracted to her way of acting. Selecting a few roles of her will be an enormous task for me. But the roles that strike easily in mind are — Bhasura from Manichithrathazhu, Latha from Sandesham, Kausalya from SreeKrishnapurathe Nakshathra Thilakkam. Her spontaneous nature and acting by breaking all those constraints surrounding her, is undoubtedly evident in a scene from the movie Ennodishtam Koodamo where Mukesh discloses his relationship to his elder sister played by KPAC Lalitha.
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=594wNrVfMpk
Bonus: Just watch this scene to analyse the dynamic nature of this brilliant actress from joy to tears: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR0klKevHtk
Over 450 films and several theatre dramas, this actress is a priceless gem for Malayalam Cinema Industry.
2. Oduvil Unnikrishnan
Just like ginger in tea, Oduvil Unnikrishnan adds a special taste of humour and naturality to films that he has been cast into. The efficiency to do humour in total flexibility makes this brilliant actor unique and outstanding. He always brought in details and did improvisations. Not only when the camera focused on him, but even when it was a wide-angle. The natural and spontaneous expressions on his face, the dialogue delivery, the way his body flexibly adapted the character from script to screen, would never fail to bring an audience beyond their laughter thresholds. Oduvil just handled them as easy as anything, in a flow, no complications, as smooth as glass. I mean, every role was easy for him to portray. The details I mentioned above are evident and visible in Sathyan Anthikad’s Sandesham. Achuthan Nair is one of the most important roles in the movie which stands equal to Raghavan Nair, played by the great actor Thilakan. There is a scene in the movie where Siddique comes to test the soil where he slips and falls. Seeing this, everyone laughs. And while Siddique looks at them, Oduvil just takes his hand to his face and wipes the smile off! I still remember the first time I saw that, I laughed until my stomach ached. Because that was trial blazing and it seemed to be so natural!
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK1WqKS7aMA (watch from 57:46)
A unique talent with a great dynamic range. He can be Moolam Kuzhiyil Prabhakaran (CID Moosa) and Krishna Kuruppu (Oru Cheru Punchiri) and what not! That flexible he was. His demise has left a sizeable space in Mollywood which still remains void.
3. Thilakan
Every Actor is unique, and there are no objections to that. But I can assure you a million times, there will be no actor like Thilakan. He is an ace actor who delivered the best of what the character and situations demanded. With the bold voice he had, he has amused us with a variety of roles. The simple way through which he handled each of them was unique. Acting as Keshavan/Keshu in Mookkilla Rajyathu made his audience realise what extends he could go to make the character be natural. Another notable act was as Adv.Achutha Menon in the film Indian Rupee. But as a big admirer of Thilakan and his works, I strongly recommend everyone to watch the movie Kattukuthira. I challenge you; you won’t be able to find another character or an actor to get in balance with Kochu Vava portrayed by him in Kattukuthira. Maybe I think that’s the longest extend as an actor he could ever go! It was a pure form of raw presentation by him. Of course, there can be another level of performances too from him. But I will never replace Kattukuthira’s name off the list. The movie comprises a scene in which two devotees going to Pazhani, goes to Kochu Vava’s home begging money as it is a part of the ritual. The performance of the actor in Thilakan showcases is stupendous! The Dialect used, the natural body language, everything in the scene is tremendous!
Link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpOP1ZIaMcU
Here’s another one where he portrayed Ananthan Nambiar- a suspect trying to evade from cops :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K7D-9yF5_g
I must repeat. An actor like Thilakan has never happened before and will not happen hereafter too.
4. Jagathy Sreekumar
We know he is out of acting because of a severe accident he met with, in 2012. But the fact is that we have never felt his absence in movies. Whichever film you watch, there would be a role portrayed by Jagathy Sreekumar. Inheriting the legacy of his father, Jagathy N. K. Achary, this actor is versatile and is comfortable with any role given to him. The way he handled humour differed totally from accustomed performances. He became a well-etched figure of comedy to people that they laughed, even if he passed by a glimpse in a scene. Selecting movies in which performed well is a herculean task. But my personal favourites would be Nischal from Kilukkam, Chandy from Indian Rupee, Chenichery Kurup from Urumi, Appukuttan from Yodha. Even though there have been portrayals of characters where the male has an element of a woman inside him, they have always felt as overacting to me. But Chenichery Kurup set a benchmark for those roles. Not less, not more. The perfect line.
Another remarkable performance which you would ‘die out of laughter' will be Kumbidi aka Sasi Palarivattom from the film Nandanam. Especially the scene where Keshavan (played by Innocent) discovers Kumbidi eating Chicken Fry. Do you know that Jagathy Sreekumar and chicken fry have a separate fanbase? It is a talk among movie buffs that when he eats chicken; it makes the audience crave to do the same right away. Indeed, true it is! The way he enjoys the process makes our mouth watery! The slight expressions passing through his face when he comes to know he is caught, is something that seems so organic and funny.
Link to the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kob0xPgSko
Bonus: Watch this extreme comedy scene from Meleparambil Aanveedu where all the characters including Jagathy Sreekumar was extraordinary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kob0xPgSko (start from 2:43)
Over 1200 films in his film career and this man has never stopped entertaining us. The absence of this complete actor is really a loss to Malayalam Movie Industry.
5. Urvashi
If there is a phrase “Lady Super Star”, then Urvashi is the depiction for it. Hailing from a theatre family, this actress is very promising. Never have I seen such a versatile and enterprising lead role actress ever in Malayalam Cinema. Just give her the role, you will get it presented at the best way it could ever be and that’s Urvashi. I have always wondered how she executes humour filled roles in such a simple way. Urvashi didn’t just rest with the Malayalam Cinema, she worked and secured her unique place in other film industries of the South; remarkably in Tamil. But it’s a fact that she slipped somewhere in the middle of her career in selection of scripts. But that hasn’t manipulated the actress in her; which is well clear from her performance lately from “Soorarai Pottru”.
Let’s go to a specific movie just to see her performance, which has been my favourite. “Michael Madana Kama Rajan” is an extraordinary film released in 1990, which has been technologically executed very well. In this comedy drama, Kamal Haasan appears in 3 roles, namely Michael, Madanan and KamaRajan. Urvashi played one of the heroines in the movie. It was the legendary Kamal Haasan who remarked it’s so easy for him to act with any co-stars, but not with the highly talented Urvashi. What more does an actress need! Today when actresses find it difficult to churn out expressions on their face,Urvashi seamlessly brought her characters to life out of the mirages of the screen . In this movie, there is a scene where Kamal visits Urvashi’s home in anger. As the frames go, the scene gets cuter and cuter and cuter! And that cuteness makes you to keep an everlasting smile on your face. Even though he said it’s really tough to act with her, the chemistry both of them bring up is pure bliss.
Link to the scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cffOXu4CX68
Here is another incredible and widely known performance by her in the movie Kadinjool Kalyanam:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vur0roYzLcg
Bring in as many actresses as possible. Urvashi will remain unbeaten in her throne.
This list is just to count in your fingers. The Malayalam film industry has and had plenty of such natural actors. It is indeed a sad story that the audience didn’t rate them according to what their performance was. A big case of underrating. Maybe because they were born in the wrong part of the planet. I’m sure if they were in the right industry, there names would have just be celebrated all over during their times. Period.
So that’s it. Thanks for spending your valuable time here again. Hope to see you guys soon with another thread here.
Cheers :)
