Naalu Pennungal - Adoor Gopalakrishnan Malayalam Movie

Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 'Naalu Pennungal' narrates the story of four women from different economic strata; a sex worker, a peasant, a middle class homemaker and a woman from an affluent family. Nandita Das, Padmapriya, Manju Pillai and Geethu Mohandas play the key characters in the film. Kavya Madhavan, who plays Nandita’s sister has an important role in the film.

The feature film based on three novels by one of the greatest novelists in Malayalam, Jnanpith Award-winner Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai, tells four different faces of women belonging to the Kuttanad background. The three novels adapted in the film are 'Nithya Kanyaka, Oru Theruvu veshyayude Kadha, Chinnu Amma. This is Adoor’s third film that is an adaptation of a literary work. 'Mathilukal' and 'Vidheyan' were based on Basheer’s and Paul Zacharia’s novels respectively.

The film is produced by Benzy Martin with support from Doordarshan, the national television network. The others in the cast include Mukesh, Manoj. K. Jayan, Baiju, Srijith Ravi, KPAC Lalitha, Babu Namboothiri etc. And this is the first feature film that does not have Adoor’s favourite cameraman Mankada Ravi Varma behind the camera. This time the cinematographer is M.J. Radhakrishnan. The script and the dialogues is by Adoor himself. The film was shot at Kuttanad Thiruvananthapuram, Amalappuzha and Thakazhi.

The first story titled 'Oru Niyamalankhanathinte Kadha' /The Prostitute' is grounded in the early independence period. Here the young prostitute Kunju Pennu (Padmapriya) who takes to prostitution for a living is suddenly able to change profession as Pappukutty (Sreejith Ravi) who falls in love with her decides to marry her. They tries their best to keep up with the societal norms of being a married couple but very soon find themselves caught up in an ironic violation of civil laws, as their claims as a married couple gets rejected on the grounds that Kunju Pennu was a women with ''loose morals''. What they realize in a short term of married life is that it is hard to change social reputations even if you try hard to present yourself more with a new face. Even in the court to prove themselves, the heroine here stands motionless, eyes down, allowing her husband to speak in her name as per the social norms of the time and supporting him with the warmth and the sense of togetherness even as they stand convicted in the fragile borders of morality.

The heroine in 'The Virgin' Kumari (Geethu Mohandas) is a young woman who looks after her parents, by working in the farmlands. Her parents arrange a match, with a man, Narayanan (Nandhu) whose reputation in earning and preserving money by running a shop is equal to her. ] As everyone expects a very good family life for the couple, Narayanan’s business skills and obsession with food with little liking for everything else including his wife, leaves Kumari in dire streets. Once left back to her home, Kumari starts life afresh, passing off her marriage as an unpleasant interlude that never did happened. Even though the character has very less dialogues, she is strong enough to be in par with the other female protagonists of the film.

In 'Chinnu amma / The Housewife' a loving married couple (Manju Pillai and Murali) has come to terms with the loss of their children to early deaths, both thinking each other as the reason for the untimely losses. Chinnu amma now in her thirties doesn’t care for it any more until her old boyfriend, Narapillai, a father of eight children who has just came back from Tamil nadu , proposes a solution to take her to bed for a healthy offspring. Here Chinnu amma, in the very thought of jeopardy, show her strong character which is enough to protect herself against a sin that should not be committed.

In the final story, the best one ‘Nithya kanyaka/The Spinster,' a family's oldest sister (Nandita Das,) must cope with the consequences when her suitor decides to select her younger sister Subhadra (Kavya Madhavan) instead of her, to enter into matrimony. In a short span of time her fate even makes her witness her youngest sister married off and her mother passing way. Now left alone, she adjusts herself to become a lady who can live alone without support from anyone in the society.

Cast: Padmapriya, Geethu Mohandas, Manju Pillai, Nandita Das, Kavya Madhavan, Sreejith, Nandu, Murali, Mukesh, Ravi Vallathol, Ashokan, M.R.Gopakumar, KPAC Lalitha, Ramya Nambeeshan, Sona Nair, Babu Namboothiri, P.Sreekumar, Aliyar

Direction: Adoor Gopalakrishnan
Production: Benzy Martin, Adoor Gopalakrishnan