K S Sethumadhavan
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A brief biography
December 25, 2021: The Times of India
CHENNAI: Renowned filmmaker K S Sethumadhavan turned several Malayalam short stories and novels into marquee movies by creating a cinematic language and style that matched the literary original
The Tamil film industry got its first national award for best film through his Marupakkam in 1991, 16 years after he made a mark in Tamil movies with the MGR-starrer 'Naallai Nammathe', a remake of 'Yaadon Ki Baraat'. The Malayalam movie 'Achanum Bappayum' won the Nargis Dutt award for best feature film on national integration. 'Venal Kinavukal' scripted by M T Vasudevan Nair was Sethumadhavan's last Malayalam movie. In Tamil, 'Nammavar' (1994) starring Kamal Haasan, Nagesh and Gauthami was his last movie. To Hindi film buffs, Sethumadhavan is known as the director of 'Julie' (1975), an inter-community love story remade in Tamil in 1984 as 'Oh Maane Maane'.
Starting his career as an assistant director in 1951, Sethumadhavan made his directorial debut with the Sinhalese movie Veeravijaya in 1961. He went on to direct over 60 movies in different languages, including Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil. He won 10 national film awards and eight Kerala state film awards and was bestowed the J C Daniel Award for his lifetime contribution to cinema in 2009. 'Kannum Karalum', 'Panithiratha Veedu', 'Chattakari' and 'Vazhve Mayam' were some of his movies that achieved cult status in Malayalam.
It was Sethumadhavan who first introduced Kamal Hassan as a child artist in his movie 'Kannum Karalum' in 1962. Later he had Hassan in a lead role in his 1974 movie 'Kanyakumari'. Mammootty made his debut as a junior artist in Sethumadhavan's 1971 movie Anubhavangal Palichakal.
Sethumadhavan's Odayilninnu, Achanum Bappayum, Yakshi, Chattakkari, Oppol, Punarjanman, Panitheeratha Veedu etc were based on stories by eminent writers in Malayalam. His first movie Gnanasundari was based on a short story by Mutath Varkey. 'Odayilninnu', in which Sathyan played a rickshaw puller, was based on the novel by Keshavadev and won national award for best Malayalam feature film. 'Panitheerathaveedu', an adaptation of a novel by Parappurath, brought him plaudits. Sethumadhavan also made films based on the literary works of Uroob, Thoppil Bhasi, K T Muhammed, Malayatoor Ramachandran and C Radhakrishnan.
"For Sethumadhavan, movies were an extension of literature and he successfully adapted many popular characters of Malayalam literature to the silver screen without compromising on their integrity", said director-writer Madhupal. 'Kanyakumari' and 'Oppol', written by M T Vasudevan Nair, are the best examples of Sethumadhavan's talent," Madhupal said. The film 'Chattakkari', written by Thoppil Bhasi based on the novel by Pamman, was another notable Sethumadhavan movie.
