Remembering Lohithadas!

28 June 2009 will remain a dark day in the history of Malayalam Cinema for having lost one of its most talented scenarists- A K Lohithadas- at the tender age of 54. Considered by many as the heir of stalwarts like P Padmarajan and M T Vasudevan Nair, A K Lohithadas started his career in Malayalam cinema with a bang- the skilfully written and emotionally moving "Thaniyaavarthanam" which won the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Story in 1987. Mammootty's moving portrayal of the troubled Balan Maash who is stamped as mentally ill by his family and villagers by blindly giving into the belief that every man in his family will have to succumb to mental illness following a curse disturbed the audience to no end and to this date is considered one of the best characters that Mamootty has enacted in his 30 odd year long career.

Thaniyavarthanam also paved way for a successful scriptwriter- director duo- Sibi Malayil- Lohitadas who went on to give us one masterpiece after another- Ezhuthappurangal (Suhasini won a State Award for Best Actress), Kireedom (Mohanlal won a special jury award at the National Level), Mudra, His Highness Abdullah (Nedumudi Venu won a National Award for Best Supporting Actor), Bharatham (Mohanlal's first Best Actor Honour at the National level), Kamaladalam, Chenkol (sequel to Kireedom) and Dhanam (the weakest of the lot). Lohithadas successfully teamed up with other directors also like Sathyan Anthicaud (Sasneham, Veendum Chila Veettukaryangal, Thoovalkottaram, Kudumba Puranam), Bharathan (Amaram, Venkalam), I V Sasi (Mukthi), Cochin Haneef (Vaalsalyam) and Joshi (Kauravar, Mahayaanam).

He also helped out debutant directors like George Kithu (Aadharam), M A Venu (Chakoram) and Sundar Das (Sallapam) and made a huge impact with his directorial debut "Bhoothakkanadi" in 1997 which also won him the Best Debutant Director award at the National level. Unfortunately, from there on started his journey downhill which was characterised by mediocre to poor scripts, box office failures and unnecessary controversies. His subsequent outings like Karunyam, Ormacheppu, Kanmadam, Joker, Kasthooriman, Chakram, Nivedyam, Arayannangalude Veedu expected with mediocre to poor response at the box office. The ones that made fair amount of money were Joker, Kasthooriman and Karunyam.

The superstars who had won multiple awards playing his characters started avoiding him and his unwillingness to write for other directors landed him in trouble. The positive contribution that he made to Malayalam Cinema during his last 10 years were the few talented actresses that he discovered/ re discovered- Manju Warrier (Sallapam), Lakshmy Gopalaswamy (Arayannangalude Veedu), Samyuktha Varma (Veendum Chila Veetukaryangal), Maanya (Joker), Meera Jasmine (Kasthooriman) and Bhama (Nivedyam).

While the Malayalam Film Industry acknowledged his talent to spot talent, this also brought with it fair share of controversies- the major one involving Lohitadas and his favourite protege- Meera Jasmine. The actress even walked out of her family and Lohitadas was blamed for all issues in her personal life- so much so that the duo decided not to work together after the debacle of "Kasthooriman" (Tamil) which also pushed Lohithadas into financial troubles from which he could not free himself until his death.

His untimely death did come as a shock for multitudes of his fans who were still positive that Lohitadas could weave magic once again with his pen and scores of artistes who wanted to associate with him one way or the other.

There is no doubt that Lohitadas has left a void in Malayalam Cinema that is hard to fill. He will be remembered through the scores of timeless characters that he created and Balan Maash, Vidyadharan (Bhoothakkanadi), Achooti (Amaram), Bappootti (Aadharam), Gopinathan (Bharatham), Abdullah (His Highness Abdullah), Sethumadhavan (Kireedom), Rajalakshmy (Ezhuthappurangal) and many more will continue to haunt us for a very long time to come.

May his soul Rest in Peace!