With a face that could carry a sea of expressions and a voice that could immortalise characters, KPAC Lalitha was an unparalleled actor in Malayalam cinema. The actor, who did more than 500 films in a career spanning over five decades, died at the age of 73 on Tuesday.
In her long and storied career, Lalitha experimented with almost all genres and made a special place for herself in every Malayali cinema lover’s heart. Born to Kadakkatharayil Veettil K. Ananthan Nair and Bhargavi Amma, her real name was Maheshwari Amma. She started working as a theatre artist at a young age of 10, and soon became a part of KPAC (Kerala People’s Art Club), a prominent leftist theatre group that propagated communist ideology. Lalitha appeared in famous plays including ‘Ningal Enne Communistakki’, ‘Anubhavangal Palichakal’ and ‘Mooladhanam’.
Her debut in Malayalam cinema was the 1970 film, Kootukudumbam that was directed by KS Sethumathavan. She soon became an integral part of Malayalam cinema and a face that the audience loved and respected. She also chaired Kerala Sangeetha Nadaka Academy before her health deteriorated.
At the beginning of her career, Lalitha shared screen space with the then superstars such as Sathyan, Prem Nazir and Madhu, among others. Over the years, she started playing the role of a sister or mother as a new generation of superstars appeared in Malayalam cinema, including Mamootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Jayaram among others. It is tough to separate Lalitha from the Malayalam cinema as we know it today. She remained active till the very last and would be seen in the upcoming Mammootty movie Bheeshmaparvam.
With her natural and innocent dialogue delivery and nuanced performances, she explored many shades of human emotions through her characters. She handled humour with ease and could go head to head with the best comedians in the industry including Jagathy Sreekumar and Innocent. She also delivered memorable performances with Mohanlal and Mammootty including Manichitrathazhu, Mathilukal and Kanalkkattu. Mathilukal, the iconic Adoor Gopalakrishnan movie, tells the tragic love story of a prisoner (Basheer, played by Mammootty), who strikes a friendship with a female inmate Narayani on the other side of the prison wall. He never gets to see her face but as they converse through the wall, and strike up a bond of comfort, companionship and love. Without once appearing on the screen, Lalitha managed to convey a myriad of emotions and moods through her voice.
Narayani not only matches Basheer’s wit and intelligence, her replies are raw, full of emotion and love. Such was the power of Lalitha’s voice that she is no longer an imaginary character whose face we never see in the film, she is a real person who has loved and lost. It is hard to imagine any other actor bringing such a character to life other than Lalitha.
Then there is Manichitrathazhu and that famous scene between her character, Bhasura Kunjamma, and Mohanlal’s character Sunny. So natural was the performance of both the actors that just the memory of that scene can evoke laughter. Her performance in Godfather, where she stand up against the patriarch played by NN Pillai, remains special. And who can forget Omana in Kadalkaatu, where she plays a joyful and innocent lover to Mammootty’s character Nathu Narayanan. The strong and vocal mother Pattalam Madhavi in Vietnam Colony, the romantic yet humorous Kathu in Thenmavin Kombath, the strong-willed Madhavi Amma inn Peruvannapurathe Visheshangal… the list is long and impressive.
Even when she played a mother in films, she managed to rise beyond stereotype, something that is tough to do when the character is often written as one-note. Take her role in Venkalam as Kunipennu, for instance. The portrayal is nuanced and shades apart from what we have come to expect from a ‘mother’s character’ in cinema. She portray Kunjipeenu to perfection as a widow who sticks to old customs of polyandry, which was prevalent among some castes in Kerala till late 19th century. Her role in 2000 movie Shantham, as Narayani, earned her National Award for best supporting actress. Mary in Mohanlal’s Spadikam is another powerful role essayed by Lalitha. As a woman caught between the ego clash of her husband and son, she is evocative and striking.
As the eternal mother of Malayalam cinema leaves for the great stage beyond, she leaves a void in cinema and in the minds of Malayalam movie lovers.
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