''Neelakuyil'' ( en, The Blue Cuckoo; ml, നീലക്കുയിൽ) is a 1954

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

film jointly directed by

P. Bhaskaran Pulloottupadathu Bhaskaran alias as P. Bhaskaran (21 April 1924 – 25 February 2007), was a Malayalam poet, lyricist of Malayalam film songs, and filmmaker. He penned more than 3000 songs for about 250 films. He also directed 44 Malayalam fea ...

and

Ramu Kariat Ramu Kariat (1 February 1927 – 10 February 1979) was an Indian film director for almost three decades from the 1950s to the 1970s, who directed many acclaimed films in the Malayalam cinema. His noted films include ''Neelakkuyil'' (1954), ''Mi ...

. It is a neo-realistic

melodrama A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...

and was based on a story written by

Uroob Parutholli Chalappurathu Kuttikrishnan, popularly known by his pen name Uroob ( ml, ഉറൂബ്; 1915 – 1979) was an Indian writer of Malayalam literature. Along with Basheer, Thakazhi, Kesavadev, and Pottekkatt, Uroob was counted am ...

who co-wrote the screenplay and dialogues along with

. It stars Sathyan,

Miss Kumari Miss Kumari (1932–1969) was an Indian actress working in the Malayalam film industry between 1949 and 1969. In the 50's and early 60's she was the most prominent female lead in the Malayalam film industry. She briefly worked as a teacher befo ...

, Prema,

and Master Vipin. The plot revolves around Neeli, a Dalit peasant girl, who falls in love with Sreedharan Nair, a high caste teacher. The film was written by acclaimed author Uroob and P. Bhaskaran, with encouragement from their friends. P. Bhaskaran wanted to make a film about social issues when he decided to make a film. His finished draft was

greenlit To green-light is to give permission to proceed with a project. The term is a reference to the green traffic signal, indicating "go ahead". Film industry In the context of the film and television industries, to green-light something is to ...

immediately by T. K. Pareekutty. Since Satyan and Bhaskaran were close friends, he was asked to essay the role of Sridharan Nair. The film was a breakthrough for Sathyan, who went on to become a matinee idol in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. It features an cinematography by

A. Vincent Aloysius Vincent (14 June 1928 – 25 February 2015) was an Indian cinematographer and director known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language films. From the mid-1960s on, he directed some 30 movies including the landmark Mal ...

and a musical score by

K. Raghavan K. Raghavan (2 December 1913 – 19 October 2013), also fondly called Raghavan Master, was a Malayalam music composer and Carnatic Vocalist. Along with G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamoorthy and Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissance ...

. ''Neelakuyil'' was released on 22 October 1954 to critical acclaim. The film was a major commercial success and went on to become the highest grossing Malayalam film at the time, a feat rare for a relatively unknown cast. The script was praised for its hard-hitting dialogues against social evils such as

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

and injustices towards women.The performance of the cast, who spoke in the regional dialect was also critically acclaimed. The narrative style was also acclaimed for diverging from the regular style of narration. The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film at the

2nd National Film Awards The 2nd National Film Awards, then known as State Awards for Films, presented by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India to felicitate the best of Indian Cinema released in the year 1954. Ceremony took place at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi ...

, becoming the first South Indian film to win the award.

Cast

* Sathyan as Sreedharan Nair *

as Neeli *

Prema Menon Prema was an Indian actress in Malayalam cinema. She acted mainly in supporting and character roles as a mother, during the 1960s and 1970s and appeared in more than 50 films in her career. She is the mother of actress Shobha. Personal life Pre ...

as Nalini *

as Shankaran Nair, the postmaster * Ramankutty Menon as the feudal lord *

Manavalan Joseph Manavalan Joseph was a Malayalam film actor. He is an actor who worked in many movies during the 1950s and 1960s. He died in 1986 Background Manavalan Joseph was born at Fort Kochi then in the Malabar District of the Madras Presidency of Britis ...

*Kochattil Balakrishna Menon *JAR Anand *Kochappan *Kodungalloor Amminiyamma *Ramankutty *

Paravoor Bharathan Vadakkekarayil Koran Bharathan (16 January 1929- 19 August 2015), better known as Paravoor Bharatan was an Indian actor who acted in Malayalam films. He started his career in movies during the 1950s. Bharathan is known as a versatile actor and h ...

(cameo role)

Soundtrack

There are nine songs, scored by

and penned by

, in a soundtrack regarded as a milestone in Malayalam film music history. Before ''Neelakuyil'', Malayalam film soundtracks only had Hindi and Tamil songs. Raghavan introduced Malayali

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

into films by including them in the soundtrack. The musical genres utilised included Mappilappattu (

Islamic music Islamic music may refer to religious music, as performed in Islamic public services or private devotions, or more generally to musical traditions of the Muslim world. The heartland of Islam is the Middle East, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, W ...

), Koyithupattu (a form of harvest singing), traditional prayers, romantic melodies, all of which emanated from the folk traditions of Kerala. The songs were choreographed by Guru Gopalakrishnan Kodungallur. The popular songs from the film are "Ellarum Chollanu Ellarum Chollanu" Janamma David, "Kayalarikaathu Vala Erinjappol" (K. Raghavan), "Unarunaroo Unnikanna" (Shantha P. Nair), "Kadalasu Vanchi Eri" (Kozhikode Pushpa) (Based on the

Tyagaraja Thyagaraja (Telugu: త్యాగరాజ) (4 May 1767 – 6 January 1847), also known as Thyāgayya and in full as Kakarla Thyagabrahmam, was a composer and vocalist of Carnatic music, a form of Indian classical music. Tyagaraja and his ...

composition in

Kapi Kapi, Kapı, or KAPI may refer to: Places * Kapi, Estonia, a village in Estonia * Kapı, Karataş, a village in Turkey * a possible old volcanic eruption site near Krakatoa People * Mari Kapi (1950–2009), Papua New Guinean judge * Mustafa Ka ...

Narayani) "Sarasa Sama Daana Bheda"), "Maanennum Vilikkilla" ( Mehboob), "Kuyiline Thedi" (Janamma David) and "Engane Nee Marakkum Kuyile" (

Kozhikode Abdul Kader Kozhikode Abdul Kader (Malayalam: കോഴിക്കോട് അബ്ദുൾ കാദർ) (born Lesli Andrews) was an Indian playback singer who was active in Malayalam cinema during the 1950s. He had sung for eight films and many dram ...

). The song "Kayalarikaathu Vala Erinjappol" was used in

Deepan Sivaraman Deepan Sivaraman is an Indian theatre director, scenographer and academic. He is the founder oOxygen Theatre Companybased in Delhi. He is from Thrissur, Kerala. Sivaraman received Charles Wallace India Trust Award in 2003, ''Kerala Sangeetha Na ...

's stage adaptation of

O V Vijayan Ottupulackal Velukkuty Vijayan (2 July 1931 – 30 March 2005), commonly known as O. V. Vijayan, was an Indian author and cartoonist, who was an important figure in modern Malayalam language literature. Best known for his first novel ''Khasakki ...

's magnum opus, ''

Khasakkinte Itihasam ''Khasakkinte Itihasam'' ( or , generally referred to as ''Khasak'' in Malayalam literary circles) is the Malayalam debut novel by Indian writer O. V. Vijayan (1930–2005). It was first serialised in 1968 and published as a single edition in ...

''.

Release

The film was released on 22 October 1954. The film was a box office success, running successfully for many weeks in packed theatres.

Critical response

''Neelakuyil'' received critical acclaim. On 7 November 1954, Cynic of ''

Mathrubhoomi ''Mathrubhumi'' is a Malayalam newspaper that is published from Kerala, India. It was founded by K. P. Kesava Menon, an active volunteer in the Indian freedom struggle against the British. The word "Mathrubhumi" translates to 'mother land'. It ...

'' wrote, “Uroob, who wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues, deserves credit for the film’s success. He succeeded in creating characters that connect well with the common people. Though some of these characters do not have any function in the linear progression of the narrative, they do not bore us because of their authentic portrayal." Further writing, "The vibrant, lively dialogues ooze life into the film. The outdoor shots, used in plenty, succeed in conveying the sense that the story takes place in Kerala. The Uchikuduma of the Nair

Karanavar Karanavar or Karanavan or Karanava, parsimoniously speaking, was the title of male head in Malayalee and Kodava society. Karnavar is also a surname for some aristocratic Nair families in and around Budhanur, Chengannur, Kerala, India, all br ...

, the

Namboodiri The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal e ...

’s pan-box, the traditional evening lamp customarily lit beside the Thulasi plant at the Nair house, the village restaurant, the Marar and his drum, the Mappila’s fishing net… all these add to the Kerala-ness of the film. He concludes writing "Though Moithu’s character does not fit into the narrative scheme, the role was essayed excellently by Balakrishna Menon.” Film historian, Jenson Joseph said, "If Social Realism in Indian cinema meant melodramatic rendering of the issues of the poor and the oppressed, ''Neelakuyil'' fits perfectly into this genre."

Awards

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

- All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film * 1954 - President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam

Legacy

In 2012, Jenny Rovin wrote, "Pre-''Neelakuyil'' Malayalam cinema largely resembled

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

, if not, a poor imitation of it. ''Neelakuyil'' was the first film to break out of this and give Malayalam cinema its identity." ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' called it "the first authentic Malayalam film." The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film, and the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam The National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of seve ...

, thus becoming the first nationally recognized Malayalam film. B. Vijayakumar of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' wrote, "''Neelakuyil'' was a landmark film in Malayalam cinema history that paved a new path for Malayalam cinema by breaking away from the earlier tradition of adapting plots from Hindi films for making Malayalam films, of which the story or the characters could never be identified with the culture of Kerala.""Neelakuyil - The Blue Cuckoo (1954)"
Cinemaofmalayalam.net. Undated. Retrieved 2010-12-28.

Randor Guy Madabhushi Rangadorai (born 8 November 1937), better known by his pen name Randor Guy, is an Indian lawyer, columnist and film and legal historian associated with the English language newspaper ''The Hindu''. He is also the official editor of the ...

of ''

'' wrote, "This film put Malayalam Cinema on the Indian movie map when it won the President’s Silver Medal at the National Film Festival. ''Neelakuyil'' was the first Malayalam film to come to grips with social realism and was a protest movie, the likes of which had not been attempted before with such depth and commitment."

References

External links

*
''Neelakuyil''
at the Malayalam Movie Database {{National Film Award Best Feature Film Malayalam 1954 drama films 1954 films Indian black-and-white films 1950s Malayalam-language films Films based on short fiction Best Malayalam Feature Film National Film Award winners Films directed by P. Bhaskaran Films directed by Ramu Kariat Indian drama films