Neelakuyil

This article is about the film. For malayalam television series, see Neelakkuyil (TV series).
This article is about the Malayalam film Neelakuyil. For the Tamil Film, see Neela Kuyil.

Neelakuyil
Theatrical release poster
Malayalamനീലക്കുയിൽ
Directed byP. Bhaskaran
Ramu Kariat
Screenplay byUroob
P. Bhaskaran[1]
Story byUroob
Produced byT. K. Pareekutty[1][2]
StarringSathyan
Miss Kumari
P. Bhaskaran
Prema Menon
Master Vipin
Manavalan Joseph
Abin VC
CinematographyA. Vincent
Edited byT. R. Sreenivasalu
Music byK. Raghavan
Production
company
Chandrathara Productions
Distributed byChandrathara Pictures
Release date
  • 22 October 1954 (1954-10-22)
Running time
171 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageMalayalam
Budget₹1 lakh (equivalent to ₹1.0 crore or US$120,000 in 2023)[1]

Neelakuyil (transl. The Blue Koel) is a 1954 Malayalam film jointly directed by P. Bhaskaran and Ramu Kariat. It is a neo-realistic melodrama and was based on a story written by Uroob who co-wrote the screenplay and dialogues along with P. Bhaskaran.[1] It stars Sathyan, Miss Kumari, Prema, P. Bhaskaran 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 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. It features an cinematography by A. Vincent and a musical score by K. Raghavan.[3]

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, feudalism 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.[3] The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film at the 2nd National Film Awards, becoming the first South Indian film to win the award.[4]

  1. ^ a b c d Saraswathy Nagarajan (21 April 2004). "A man and two milestones". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 8 November 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference milestone was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b B. Vijayakumar (25 October 2008). "Neelakuyil 1954". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 16 October 2016.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2ndawardPDF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).