Iruttinte Athmavu

Iruttinte Athmavu
Directed byP. Bhaskaran
Written byM. T. Vasudevan Nair
Produced byP. I. Muhammed Kasim
StarringPrem Nazir,
Sharada,
Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair,
P. J. Antony,
Ushakumari/Vennira Aadai Nirmala,
Kozhikode Shantha Devi,
Baby Rajani
CinematographyE. N. Balakrishnan
Edited byG. Venkitaraman ,
Das
Music byM. S. Baburaj
Production
company
Sony Pictures
Distributed byBharath Pictures
Release date
  • 2 March 1967 (1967-03-02)
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam

Iruttinte Athmavu (transl. The soul of Darkness) is a 1967 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by P. Bhaskaran and written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair based on his own short story of the same name.[1] It stars Prem Nazir and Sharada in lead roles with Thikkurissy Sukumaran Nair, P. J. Antony, Ushakumari, Kozhikode Shantha Devi and Baby Rajani in supporting roles. The film is about a mentally unstable youth born into a matriarchal family who is forced to live as a mad man in chains and who is misunderstood and ill-treated by everyone except his uncle's daughter.[2] The film features music by M. S. Baburaj, cinematography by E. N. Balakrishnan and editing by G. Venkitaraman and Das.

Prem Nazir played the mentally challenged Bhranthan Velayudhan, widely considered to be one of the finest performances of Prem Nazir's career.[3][4][5] Nazir himself rated his role of Velayudhan in Iruttinte Athmavu and as the swashbuckling folk hero Thampan in Padayottam as his best.[6] Also, its script is regarded as one of the finest by M. T. Vasudevan Nair. A landmark film in Malayalam cinema, the film provided Malayalam cinema with a new direction; that of the low-budget film. The film has earned a dedicated cult following. It won the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues.[7][8] It missed the Best Film and Best Actor (Prem Nazir) award only narrowly.[9] Despite all the acclaim, the film was a box office failure.[10]

The film was part of MT's trilogy of political melodramas – the other two being Murappennu (1965) and Asuravithu (1968), both directed by A. Vincent.[11] Major indoor parts of the film were shot in Satya Studios in Madras and outdoor parts from the premises of Bharathapuzha at Shoranur.

  1. ^ The Illustrated weekly of India. Vol. 91. 1970. p. 19.
  2. ^ Indian review of books. Acme Books. 1995. p. 30.
  3. ^ P.K. Ajith Kumar (16 January 2009). "The evergreen hero". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 April 2009. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  4. ^ Indian newsmagazine. Vol. 14. Link. 1972. p. 36.
  5. ^ "A stalwart on the Malayalam screen" (PDF). The Hindu. 5 February 1989. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 July 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  6. ^ India Today. Vol. 14. Living Media India Pvt. Ltd. 1989. p. 46.
  7. ^ T. M. Ramachandran (1971). Film world. Vol. 7. p. 106.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference kaleidoscope was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Malayalam literary survey. Kerala Sahitya Akademi. 1982. p. 121.
  10. ^ Amaresh Datta (2006). The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature. p. 752.
  11. ^ B. Vijayakumar (21 April 2013). "ASURAVITHU 1968". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 December 2017.