Minnunnathellam Ponnalla

Janamma David passed away on 23.04.2003 leaving a golden chapter of the book of Mollywood music to glitter forever in her mesmerizing voice and unique style of singing. As my tribute to Janamma David, I am presenting the review of an old movie - Minnunnathellam Ponnalla (1957) which was made by P.K Sathyapal and directed by R.Velappan Nair, starring Sathyan and K.V Shanthi in lead roles. The highlight of this movie is the immortal music composed by S.N Chami(S.N Rangasami) containing certain classic songs in the voice of Janamma David which we, the music lovers, are fond of listening to again and again and again. Minnunnathellam Ponnalla (the Malayalam proverb which means all that glitters are not gold) starts with the killing of a newspaper editor who was on the trail of a rich businessman - Dharmmapaalan (P.K Sathyapal) who was supposed to be having underworld links. The case is assigned to C.I.D. inspector Rajan (Sathyan) who along with his love life with Malathi (K.V Shanthi), moves forward in the direction of unraveling the mystery of the editor's murder and reaching the real culprit. However the real culprit is smarter than him and he weaves a web of lies, deceit and conspiracy around him and traps himself only in the murder of the murderer (G.K Pillai). How he proves his own innocence and catches the guilty is the remaining part of the story in which the characters of Leela (Adoor Pankajam) and Paachan (Santho Krishnan) also play significant roles. This is the fifth movie of its director - R.Velappan Nair who is credited to bring about Noe-noir style in the Malayalam cinema. Minnunnathellam Ponnalla was one of the pioneer movies in the tradition of Bollywood style crime-thrillers in Malayalam. This movie is a showcase of his abundant talent which despite some plot holes, keeps the viewer hooked for two and a half hours. He has not allowed the narrative to go lax (despite melodious songs and the romance of the lead pair intervening) and presented a taut thriller. He has focused on thrill and not on mystery, else, given the script, he could have easily made a whodunit also. The young director has been able to draw praiseworthy performances from the actors. Sathyan was fast evolving himself into the Kerala Laurence Olivear and in Minnunnathellam Ponnalla also, he is able to fling lightning on the hearts of the young females with his handsome personality and enchanting mannerisms.K.V Shanthi was very beautiful and her pair with Sathyan appears quite charming. This is the 16th movie of one of the greatest actresses of the Malayalam screen - Adoor Pankajam who was barely 28-29 years old then. P.K Sathyapal gave her the break in Mollywood through a negative role in this movie and lo ! The actress playing a vamp in her debut movie went on to register her name in one of the most happening and the most popular Mollywood character actressess during the sixties. Both these ladies have done well. The complete supporting cast has also done justice to the assigned roles. P.K Sathyapal's movies are incomplete without Santho Krishna. The immensely popular song - Ee Lokame, Ente veedanu ha has been picturized on him only and none can forget his performance on this song. This legendary character actor has provided sufficient no. of relief moments in this movie belong to the genre of noir cinema. Just like P.K Sathyapal and Santho Krishna, Sathyan and Santho Krishna also made a great male pair of the Malayalam screen, complimenting each other very well and entertaining the audience in huge quantum. As asserted earlier, the biggest plus point of this movie is the immortal music composed by S.N Chami. Most of the lyrics have been written by P.N Dev. P.Leela has sung Minnunnathellam and Kannum en kannumaay with P.B Shrinivas whereas Pachavarnappainkiliye is her solo. Irul moodukayo is the melody sung by S.Janaki . And Janamma David has given her voice to the great songs like Oru pennine pinnil (picturized on Adoor Pankajam) and the immensely popular - Ee lokame (picturized on Thankam and Premji) in the company of M.B Shrinivas. My favourite song of Janamma David from this album in particular as well as in general is - Naanamenthu Kananee, Nadunghanenthu penmanee which has been picturized on Ragini. The low profile actresses like Thankam and Ragini also got their share of popularity by performing on Janamma David's enchanting voice in these songs. The lyricists have dropped gems in the form of words for the lyrics of these songs. With my tribute to the great female singer whose voice was not fine like S.Janaki's and somewhat hoarse, nevertheless enchanting for the music lovers; I unconditionally recommend this interesting crime-thriller from the black and white era to the movie buffs. The evergreen songs render immense repeat value to this classic black and white movie.