''Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback'' () is a 1983

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 wa ...

-language film by K. G. George. The film was controversial because of the protagonist's similarities to the actress

Shoba Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha (23 September 1962 – 1 May 1980), was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her rol ...

, whose suicide was highly publicized. In his biography, even though KG George admits that his inspiration to make the movie was indeed the suicide of Shobha, he says that more importantly it was his long-time dream to make a cinema about 'cinema', which had never been tried before in the Malayalam industry at the time. The film was a commercial success. Although it did not receive any of the Kerala state Film awards, it garnered widespread critical acclaim and received awards outside Kerala. It was screened at several movie festivals namely the International Movie festival under the Indian Panorama division held in Bombay and also at the London Film Festival.

Plot

A poor Malayali family reaches Madras to try their luck in the film industry with their daughter Shantamma. She slowly starts climbing the ladder of success and becomes popular actress Lekha. At the peak of her career she commits suicide by hanging herself. The film recounts events that leads to her suicide, including a stint as a prostitute succumbing to the pressure from her parents for the lust of quick money and her unsuccessful love affair with a director.K.G.George
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Cast

Nalini Nalini (Devanagari: नलिनी) is a female gender Indian given name, which means "lotus", "goddess Gayatri","mother of Vedas", "sweet nectar", "Amrit", Feminine "lily" in Sanskrit.''Baby Names''"Nalini" Retrieved on 9 January 2016. The name ...

as Lekha (Voice By Lisy) *

Bharath Gopi Gopynathan Velayudhan Nair (2 November 1937 – 29 January 2008), popularly known by the stage name Bharat Gopy, was an Indian actor, producer and director. He was one of the first actors to be associated with the New Wave cinema movement in ...

as Suresh Babu *

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, H ...

as Prem Sagar *Sharada as Geetha *

Meenakumari Meena Kumari (born Mahjabeen Bano; 1 August 1933 – 31 March 1972) was an Indian actress and poet, who worked in Hindi films. Popularly known as ''The Tragedy Queen'', she was active between 1939 and 1972. Kumari is widely considered one of ...

* Shubha as Lekha's Mother *John Varghese as Lekha's Father *

Mohan Jose Mohan Jose is an Indian actor in Malayalam cinema. He has acted more than 100 films. He came into movie industry portraying villains and later began acting in different comedy and character roles. He is the son of famous singer Pappukutty Bhag ...

as Lekha's uncle *

Thodupuzha Vasanthi Thodupuzha Vasanthi was an Indian actress who acted mainly in Malayalam films. She appeared in over 450 movies and also in 16 tele-serials and 100 plays. She was a theater artist, before starting with small roles in movies. Her first full length ...

* Ramu *

Thilakan Palappurathu Kesavan Surendranatha Thilakan (15 July 1935 – 24 September 2012) was an Indian film and stage actor who appeared in over 200 Malayalam films. Thilakan was known for his elaborate method acting, realistic and spontaneous appearan ...

Nedumudi Venu Kesavan Venugopal (22 May 1948 – 11 October 2021), better known by his stage name Nedumudi Venu, was an Indian actor and screenwriter from Kerala, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. He acted in more than 500 films, primarily in Ma ...

Venu Nagavally Venu Nagavally (16 April 1949 – 10 September 2010) was an Indian actor, screenwriter and director best known for his work in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. He has directed 12 films. Son of writer, commentator, and broadcaster Nagav ...

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such as ...

as Movie Director *

Bharathan Bharathan (14 November 1946 – 30 July 1998) was an Indian film maker, artist, and art director. Bharathan is noted for being the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam cinema, along with Padmarajan and K. G. George, in the ...

- cameo appearance

Soundtrack

The music was composed by

M. B. Sreenivasan Manamadurai Balakrishnan Sreenivasan (19 September 1925 – 9 March 1988), or MBS, was a South Indian music director who worked mainly in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He was born to an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family on 19 Septe ...

and the lyrics were written by O. N. V. Kurup.

References

External links

* 1983 films 1980s Malayalam-language films Indian films based on actual events Films directed by K. G. George Films scored by M. B. Sreenivasan {{1980s-Malayalam-film-stub