Padmarajan


P. Padmarajan was an Indian film maker, screenwriter and author who was known for his landmark work in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. Padmarajan was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Bharathan and K. G. George, in the 1980s, which created groundbreaking films that were widely received while also being critically acclaimed. Known for his classic works, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest film makers of Indian Cinema of all time. He is known for the mastery in screenwriting in Malayalam Cinema.
Padmarajan was noted for his fine and detailed screenwriting and expressive direction style. Padmarajan made some of the landmark motion pictures in Malayalam cinema, including critically acclaimed works like Peruvazhiyambalam, Oridathoru Phayalvaan, Kallan Pavithran, Koodevide, Thinkalaazhcha Nalla Divasam, Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil, Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal, Thoovanathumbikal, Moonnam Pakkam, Innale, Season and Njan Gandharvan. He wrote several short stories which were unique in content and presentation. His novels handled the darkest emotions and considered as Classics. Most plots were nascent for that age literature. All works were so cinematic and can be easily visualized to celluloid version.

Early life

Padmarajan was born on 23 May 1945 in Muthukulam near Haripad in Alappuzha, which was then under the princely state of Travancore. He was the sixth son of Thundathil Anantha Padmanabha Pillai and Njavarakkal Devaki Amma. After early schooling at Muthukulam, he studied at M. G. College and University College Trivandrum, graduating with a B.Sc. in chemistry. Subsequently, he learned Sanskrit from the scholar Cheppad Achyutha Warrier at Muthukulam. He then joined All India Radio, Trichur, starting as a programme announcer, and later settled at Poojappura, Trivandrum; he would remain at All India Radio until 1986 when his involvement in films prompted him to retire voluntarily.

Career as screenwriter and director

Padmarajan's stories deal with deceit, murder, romance, mystery, passion, jealousy, libertinism, anarchism, individualism and many anarchism and life of peripheral elements of society. Some of them are considered as among the best in Malayalam literature, his first novel published in 1971 titled Nakshathrangale Kaaval won the Kerala Sahithya Academy award.
He entered the world of Malayalam films by writing the screenplay for Bharathan's directorial debut and Balu Mahendra's cinematography Prayaanam to take first steps to be one of the most talented scriptwriters to have ever graced Malayalam cinema.
He later began to direct films based on his screenplays, beginning with Peruvazhiyambalam , which are greatly popular among the common people as well as intellectuals and film critics, while maintaining richness in artistic and thematic originality and excellence with commercial appeal. His films explore the features of the landscape naturally and easily. Padmarajan was a great experimenter who explored all walks of life in his works. His screenplays had such hitherto-unheard of features and subjects – such as casting rain as a character in Thoovanthumbikal, homosexual love in Desatanakkili Karayarilla, unusual climax in Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal and Oridaththoru Phayalvaan. Forbidden love and characters that strive to rise above the limitations of middle-class Malayali society of the seventies and eighties is a recurring theme in many of his works. Many of his films bear the mark of his romanticism.
He is celebrated for his unparalleled attention to detail in his screenplays. Some of his scripts are arguably the smoothest narratives ever penned in the Malayalam language. They are also ample proof for his keen observation, acute perception, and astute portrayal of human relationships and emotions. Many of his films have stunning and haunting climaxes, most of them not commonly portrayed in Malayalam movies. His characters are portrayed with great sensitivity and intensity on the screen and many of the scenes are generously sprinkled with humour. The dialogues of characters are quite natural, in the language of the common man, and yet have a subtle lyrical quality.The landscape is also the major part of the Padmarajan's craft in film making. His thesis were well crafted in his films. He broke the distances between cinema and literature.
Indeed, a just cause may be made that his directorial merit flowed easily from his exquisitely crafted screenplays: he never directed a film based on a script written by someone else, and rarely adapted his script from a story not his own. Consequently, he had an unusually intimate knowledge of the characters in his films in combination with his mastery of the script.

Association with Bharathan

Together with Bharathan and K. G. George, he successfully laid the foundation for a school of Malayalam cinema that strove to tread a middle ground by striking a fine balance between intellectual and commercial appeal, without sacrificing the strong points of either approach; this was accomplished by portraying brilliant stories with "next door" men and women as characters, steering clear of artificial characters, stereotypes and pedantic inclinations allegedly typical of critically acclaimed films. The term "Parallel film" is usually used to describe his style of film making. Along with Bharathan, he displayed mastery in handling sexuality on the screen, hitherto less known in Malayalam cinema.

Association with actors

He was quite adept in spotting talent, and introduced many fresh faces who would later make their mark in Indian cinema, including Ashokan, Rasheed, Rahman, Jayaram, Ramachandran, Ajayan. Also artists like Nitish Bharadwaj, Suhasini ; Shari were introduced to Malayalam screen by him.
He coaxed sparkling and inspired performances from many actors, such as Bharath Gopi, Mammootty, Mohanlal, Shobana, Sumalatha, Karamana Janardanan Nair, Rahman, Jagathy Sreekumar, Suresh Gopi, Thilakan, Nedumudi Venu and Ashokan; indeed, Thilakan's rendition in Moonnam Pakkam is one of the best performances of the thespian's career. His association with Mohanlal was well noted especially because their films broke the conventional concepts prevailing during that time. He also aided in establishing, to a fair degree, the fame of other directors such as Bharathan, I. V. Sasi, and Mohan, through his association with them; his collaboration with Bharathan as a scriptwriter is considered to have produced remarkable works in Malayalam cinema. His assistants who went on to direct films independently include Thoppil Ajayan, Suresh Unnithan's, and Blessy's (Kaazhcha, Thanmaathra, the latter adapted from Padmarajan's short story Orma.

Personal life

Padmarajan's wife Radhalakshmi Padmarajan is from Chittur in Palakkad. Radhalakshmi was his colleague at AIR before their marriage in 1970. RadhaLakshmi has written her reminiscences about him in her book Padmarajan entaey Gandharvan. Their son, P. Ananthapadmanabhan, is a writer. Padmarajan considered Moonnam Pakkam as his most favourite work.
Padmarajan died suddenly at Hotel Paramount Towers in Calicut while he was visiting a cinema playing his last film Njan Gandharvan. The cause of death was a massive cardiac arrest.

Works

Novels

;Kerala Sahithya Academy Awards
; National Film Awards
; Kerala State Film Awards
; Kerala Film Critics' Awards
; Film Fans' Awards
; Other awards
Padmarajan Puraskaram or Padmarajan Award is an annual film/literary award instituted by the Padmarajan Memorial Trust. It carries a plaque and a cash award of 10,000. The award is given in two categories: