Kaviyoor Ponnamma, an actor who embodied the mother in Malayalam cinema She explored every imaginable shade of the role, from the sorrowful mother to the cunning one and occasionally the humorous mother, despite being stuck in the stereotypes.
Any actor’s aim is to fit into a character, yet actors who do too well in a role frequently find themselves in more of the same. Because they inhabit that part, it is impossible for filmmakers to imagine anyone else playing it. Among them was the actor Kaviyoor Ponnamma, who died away on Friday at the age of 79. She became the face of the mother in Malayalam cinema over sixty years.
She began portraying the part in her early 20s, occasionally as the mother of actors who were younger than her. She went on to play the mother of numerous actors, starting with Prem Nazir, in more than 300 films. She explored every imaginable shade of motherhood, from the mourning one to the cunning one and occasionally the playful one, even though she was stuck in the stereotypes.Her more noteworthy roles from the past, such as Narayani, the oracle’s wife in M.T.
Vasudevan Nair’s Nirmalyam (1973), who battles to provide for her impoverished family, have been lost in the shuffle of recent memory. The film’s iconic moment, in which the oracle spits at a goddess idol, is still spoken about. However, before that event, Narayani angrily confronted him, saying, “You are the one who turned me into this state at this age,” when poverty drove her to do something dishonorable.
You were too busy serving the goddess to light the hearth in this home. The deity did not deliver rice or money when my children were starving. memorable parts
That early in her career may have been the most subversive moment of hers on screen, but Mammootty’s portrayal of Balan’s mother in Thaniyavarthanam (1987) is a close second. In one of the most devastating scenes of maternal love in Malayalam cinema, she feeds her kid a grain of poisoned rice to keep him from being labeled a crazy and put in a cage by the superstitious family members. She portrayed a single mother in Kodiyettam who harbored lustful thoughts for the main character, Sekharankutty.uncommon on-screen relationship
However, she created one of the most well-liked mother-son pairs on screen with Mohanlal. They enjoyed an extremely uncommon on-screen rapport, from the mother of Sethu in the tragic Kireedam to the mother-like figure who forces the character played by Mohanlal to make a sacrifice for the sake of her own son in Thenmavin Kombath. Her mental disorder leads her to believe that His Highness Abdullah (1990) is her own deceased son. In a movie better known for its humor, her portrayal of Andrew’s mother in In Harihar Nagar—a mother who waits impatiently for her son—remains a bitter memory.