Olavum Theeravum (1970)

Olavum Theeravum is a 1970 Malayalam film directed by P. N. Menon and written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair based on his own short story of the same title, published in an anthology of short stories in 1957. The story is about a Muslim trader who falls in love with his dead friend's sister who is the daughter of a prostitute. But the girl's mother forces her to marry a wealthy man who has an eye on her. She rejects him but is raped by him and commits suicide. The film was produced by P. A. Backer, who later turned director, under the banner of Charuchithra.

Olavum Theeravum has been credited with helping to bring about a "flowering of art-house films that have today become the defining quality of Malayalam cinema", with being Malayalam cinema's "breakthrough into realism", and as "a watershed in the history of Malayalam cinema". The tragic realism in this art-house movie, which was also a commercial hit, later became a definitive formula for a whole generation of Malayalam directors, including P. A. Backer. MT’s flawless script centering on the love affair of a trader with the daughter of a sex worker was the base on which P.N. Menon made this classic, which became a trendsetter for the realistic way of making movies in Malayalam. It is rightly regarded as one of the milestones in Malayalam cinema.

Synopsis

Timber traders Bapputty (Madhu) and Abdu (Nellikkodu Bhaskaran) are friends. Ashamed of his mother Beevathu’s (Philomina) immoral life after his father’s death, Abdu runs away from his native village Vazhakkadavu and is engaged in timber trading. Abdu never returns to his home after that. On the way to the trading centre after loading timber from the forest Abdu falls ill and dies on the way. Bapputty reaches Beevathu’s hut with Abdu’s dead body. Bapputty takes pity on the family and decides to support them.

Actors