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When we talk of the greatest scriptwriters of Malayalam cinema, the names of M.T. Vasudevan Nair, P. Padmarajan and A.K. Lohithadas come up for discussion. Sreenivasan should also be part of that list.
True, he may not have written the greatest of dramas, romances or fantasies like them, he may not have dealt with that many serious issues, his world may not have been as wide and varied, or his plots may not have been ground-breaking, but we have to acknowledge one thing: he was a gifted scriptwriter and no one in Indian cinema probably understood the art of comedic writing as much as he did. And it was no slapstick humour he wrote.
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He was the VKN of scriptwriting. Malayalam language is lucky that it got a writer like VKN, the man who made us laugh aloud while we read aloud a book. Much like P.G. Wodehouse.
Since not everyone is a reader, not every Malayali knows VKN’s genius. But everyone sees movies. So they know Sreenivasan, though more as an actor, of course.
As an actor, he has done outstanding work, no doubt — in films like Vadakkunokkiyanthram, Swaroopam, Thakarachenda and Ponmuttayidunna Thattan. But, other actors could have also done those roles, though may not be as well as him. The point is a Swaroopam, or a Ponmuttayidunna Thattan would have been made if there was no actor called Sreenivasan.
However, there would have been no Vadakkunokkiyanthram. Nobody else could have authored such a script, which dealt with the psychological issues of an insecure man married to a most beautiful woman. That may not be the most unusual of themes, but the script is.
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The life story of Thalathil Dineshan is told through a series of incredibly comic scenes and dialogues that have become part of the popular culture (that is the case with several Sreenivasan films). You could see a master craftsman at work in the script of Vadakkunokkiyanthram, right from the opening scene in which the hero writes a letter to the psychiatrist in a magazine about his anxieties of marrying a beautiful woman.
The film also marked his debut as a director. He only directed one more film, Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala, one of the finest feminist films in Malayalam. It was a clever retelling of a film he did as an actor — Swaroopam, a superb but underrated work by K.R. Mohanan.
Sreenivasan’s comic genius shown through in just about every film he wrote, though not all his films may have been in the class of Vadakkunokkiyanthram, Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala, Nadodikkattu, Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam, Doore Doore Oru Koodu Koottam, Paavam Paavam Rajakumaran, Azhakiya Ravanan, Mithunam, Sandesham or Udayananu Tharam.
And there is an element of the unexpected in the way he wrote a comic scene. For instance, just rewind Azhakiya Ravanan, an unusual romantic film directed by Kamal that failed at the box office despite great comedy and brilliant music by Vidyasagar who was making his debut in Malayalam cinema.
There is this scene in which Mammootty corners and makes Sreenivasan look into his handsome face from up close, and asks him, “Do you remember this face?” Sreenivasan asks the hero who has just returned to his native village, “Have you acted in Hindi cinema?” Mammootty’s face lits up, but not for long, as Sreenivasan’s character the tailor-turned-Malayalam-novelist, explains, “Acted as a robber?”
Much is lost in the translation here, one knows, but if you remember the scene, you will get an idea of what a gifted scriptwriter Sreenivasan was. And his ambition was never to write.
He was trained to be an actor, at the MGR Film and Television Institute in Chennai, and he turned to scriptwriting because, in his own words, he was forced by his good friend Priyadarshan, who told him he could act only if he wrote a script. The film was Odaruthammava Aalariyam.
Sreenivasan has said that he had also written a script long before, but he took no credit as the story was based on an outdated, overdramatic story suggested by the director. It was the right move from a man would rewrite the art of scriptwriting in Malayalam cinema.
