''Oru Penninte Katha'' (A Women's Story) is a

Malayalam language 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 d ...

film, released in 1971. It was written by E. Moses, directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan and produced by K. S. R Murthi. The film stars Sathyan and

Sheela Sheela Ravichandran (Born 22 March 1945) is an Indian actress and director who appears predominantly in Malayalam cinema. Paired with Prem Nazir, they hold the Guinness World Record for acting in the largest number of films (130) together as he ...

in lead roles along with

K. P. Ummer Kachinamthoduka Puthiyapurayil Ummer known as K. P. Ummer (Malayalam: കെ.പി. ഉമ്മർ) was an Indian actor from Thekkepuram quarter of Kozhikode, Kerala, India. He was active in the Malayalam cinema from early sixties until late ...

, N. Govindan Kutty and

Adoor Bhasi K. Bhaskaran Nair (1 March 1929 – 29 March 1990), known by his stage name Adoor Bhasi, was an Indian actor and film director from Kerala. Adoor Bhasi was almost always cast as the man who stands next to the hero. His hilarious actions and role ...

in supporting roles. The film has a musical score by G. Devarajan and cinematography was done by Melly Irani. The film revolves around Savitri (

), the daughter of a plantation worker and her revenge against Madhavan Thampi ( Sathyan), who arrests her lover under false charges and rapes her. The film takes some plot elements from the Hollywood film '' The Visit'' (1964). Some subplots of the film is used in another 2012 Malayalam film,

Mr. Marumakan ''Mr. Marumakan'' () is a 2012 Malayalam-language comedy-drama film written by the duo Udayakrishna-Siby K. Thomas and directed by ''Sandhya Mohan'' . The movie stars Dileep in the lead role with Sanusha, Bhagyaraj, Khushbu Sundar, Sheela, Bi ...

. The film was released on 22 January 1971.

Plot

Savithri is the only daughter of Govindan , who is employed in the tea estates owned by Madhavan Thampi. One day Madhavan Thampi spots Savithri singing near the stream and is attracted towards her. Raghavan is the local leader of the laborers. Rajan, another leader of the estate workers is involved in a criminal case framed against him by the estate owners and the police is in search of him. Rajan gets refuge in Savithri's house through Raghavan. Love blooms between Savithri and Rajan. One day Madhavan Thampi happens to see Rajan in his hideout. Savithri fears that Thampi may report it to the police. Her friend Thankamma advises her to approach Thampi and plead with him to not report to the police. Accordingly, Savithri reaches Thampi's bungalow and is raped by him. Thampi then informs the police and Rajan is arrested. Savithri becomes pregnant, but Thampi disowns her. Govindan commits suicide and the helpless Savithri leaves town after giving birth to a child whom she leaves in the hospital. Thampi marries Subhadra and they live happily with their daughter Sreedevi. Mismanagement of the business by Thampi results in huge losses. Thampi's estate and property is bought by a rich woman, Gayathri Devi, who comes from Bombay. Thampi contests the Assembly elections and loses. Raghavan, who is a nominee of Gayathri Devi, wins. Gayathri Devi repays Thampi's debts too and she files a suit against Thampi for recovery of money she paid to clear his debts. Thampi's house is about to be attached when Subhadra approaches Gayathri Devi with a request to wait till their daughter gets married. Gayathri Devi narrates to Subhadra the reason behind her actions. Gayathri Devi is none other than Savithri, the daughter of Thampi's poor servant Govindan, who was abandoned by him mercilessly. After abandoning her newborn baby, Savitri became a prostitute and finally inherits a huge amount of wealth from a benefactor in Bombay. Thampi writes a letter to Gayathri Devi, in which he tells Sreedevi that it is her own daughter whom he adopted from the hospital. Gayathri Devi transfers all her wealth into Sreedevi's name, but Sreedevi refuses to accept it and Gayathri Devi returns to Bombay.

Cast

* Sathyan as Madhavan Thampi *

as Savithri/Gayathri Devi *

as Rajan * N. Govindan Kutty as Raghavan *

as Unnithan * Sankaradi as Manager *

Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai (1900–1979) was a Malayalam dramatist, poet, screen play writer and actor who was well known in the role of Ashaan in Kavyamela. He was born in 1900 in Muthukulam, a small village near Haripad in Alappuzha District ...

* T. S. Muthaiah as Govindan Mesthiri * C. Narayana Pillai as Nair *

Paul Vengola Paul Vengola was an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He mainly acted in comedy roles and supporting roles. He was an active comedian during the 1970s and 1980s in Malayalam film. Career He was a drama artist before coming into film industry and ...

* T. R. Omana as Muthassi *

Jayabharathi Jayabharathi is an Indian actress. She is a two-time recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for best actress. Jayabharathi's first leading role was given by director P. Bhaskaran for his movie Kattukurangu in 1969. Later she became one of ...

as Thankamma *

Kaviyoor Ponnamma Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing cred ...

as Subhadra *

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 ...

as Raman Nair * Prema as Nun * Junior Sheela as Sreedevi *Abbas as Watchman

Soundtrack

The music was composed by G. Devarajan with lyrics by

Vayalar Ramavarma Vayalar Ramavarma (March 25, 1928 – October 27, 1975), also known as Vayalar, was an Indian poet and lyricist of Malayalam language. He was known for his poems which include ''Sargasangeetham'', ''Mulankaadu'', ''Padamudrakal'', ''Aayisha'' a ...

References

External links

* {{K. S. Sethumadhavan 1971 films 1970s Malayalam-language films Films directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan