Malayalam cinema has always provided its actresses with a solid platform to show off their skills. It is therefore a herculean task to pick and choose between the greatest actresses of this industry.
Firstly I will not be including actresses who specialise in a certain type of role. Not because they are not good, but because I am looking for versatility. This means the ’mother’ of Malayalam cinema - Kaviyur Ponnamma, Sukumari and veteran KPAC Lalitha are ruled out.
Now moving on to the list with the best actress coming at the very end.
5) Meera Jasmine
There is little to choose between this Lohithadas protégé and Kavya Madhavan. Meera has played some good characters in movies like Kasthooriman, Gramaphone, Padam Onnu Oru Vilaapam, Achuvinte Amma, Ayutha Ezhuthu (Tamil) and Perumazhakkalam
Her playful Jenny in Gramaphone or her vivacious Achu from Achuvinte Amma are memorable characters. But who can forget her role in Perumazhakkalam. As the wife begging for forgiveness to save her husbands life, she left both the heroes Dileep and Vineeth on the sidelines with her powerhouse acting. This is easily her best role to date, coming just ahead of her ’Padam Onnu Oru Vilaapam’. She has a great career ahead of her and lets home she gives us more good characters in the days to come
4) Kavya Madhavan
I choose Kavya over Meera simply because I had a teeny weeny crush on her ;-)
Kavya has been acting since she was a child. Does anyone remember the girl who played the young Banupriya in ’Azhagiya Raavanan’. From there on she has steadily become the image of the typical traditional Malayali ’manga’ (naari) that men visualise about. She then moved onto teeny-bopper movies like ’Chandran Udikkunna Dhikkil’, Dosth, Meesha Madhavan. She also played the deaf mute in ’Oomapayyanum Uriyadapennum’.
Her pairing with Dileep was instrumental in making him the star hero that he is now. Inbetween she starred in women-oriented movies like Mizhi Randilum (where she played a double act) and of course Perumazhakkalam. I call Perumazhakkalam the Heat of Malayalam cinema, because we rarely get to see two brilliant actresses in great form in the same movie. Kavya was the grieving widow who finally decides to forgive her husband’s killer and is ostracised from society for that.
She played a black and ugly woman in the unnoticed movie Annorikkal, but then reverted back to form with a string of movies like ’Lion’, ’Classmates’ , Chakkara Muthu’ and ’Kochi Rajavu’ where she plays the romantic lead for the hero.
She has also been good in supporting roles - "Kochu kochu santhoshangal", "Vadakkum nathan" and "Vaasthavam".
If she keeps her weight under check and chooses her roles more carefully, she has a great future waiting her.
3) Shobana
Shobana is a trained classical dancer, related to the Travancore sisters (Padmini, Ragini, Rupini) and veteran actress Sukumari. With such a good pedigree, there was little doubt as to her talents. Her portrayal of the schizophrenic Nagavally/Ganga in Manichitrathazhu is her most famous role ever. Who can forget the electric buzz that she portrays in the song "Oru murai vanthu parthaaya".
She has acted with Mohanlal and Mamootty in quite a few movies like "TP Balagopalan MA", "Yathra", "Charitram", "Mazhayethum munpe", "Valiettan", "Hitler". But towards the middle part of her career she was getting typecast as the arrogant woman who falls in love with the heroine
I feel that somehow Shobana did not show her full potential in Malayalam movies either due to lack of opportunities or due to her other commitments. However, she still has it in her and here’s to hoping for more quality movies from her.
2) Manju Warrier
Manju Warrier was a kalathilakam (awarded to best arts performance in a govt youth festival). She carried her winning spree to the silver screen. Roles were written for Manju and she performed them to aplomb. Some of her best movies include "Sallapam", "Ee puzhayum kadannu", "aaram Thamburam", "Summer in Bethlehem", "Kannezhuthi Pottumthottu", "Pranaya varnangal", "Kanmadam" and "Krishnagudiyil Oru Pranayakaalathu"
She has played the typical running around the trees kind of roles also, but has been lucky enough to get varied roles to portray her acting talents. Her vivacious girl next door neighbour looks have also helped. Who can forget Manju making fun of Dileep’s proposal in "Ee puzhayum kadannum" by pre-empting him with her nasal "I love you"
Her characters in "Kanmadam", "Summer in Bethlehem" and "Ee puzhayum kadannu" are copied to this day by actresses like Meera Jasmine and Kavya Nair
She has stopped acting after her marriage to costar Dileep (typical of the double standards in the industry) and this has been a big loss to Malayalam cinema.
1) Sharadha
At one point, Sharadha was called ’Urvashi’ Sharadha, due to the number of ’Urvashi’ (National award for best actress) awards that she picked up. Although she was Telugu by birth, she fit quite well into the Malayalam industry. She presided over what was arguably the golden period of Malayalam movies with eternal classics like "Murappennu", "Iruttinde atmaavu", "Yakshi", "Thulabhaaram", "Aparadhini", "Stree", "Kakka Thamburaatti", phew the list is endless. It is hard to pin any one role of hers for each one was well etched out.
I pick her as the best actress ever to grace Malayalam cinema for three reasons
a) She overcame cultural handicaps to such an extent that it is often different to convince people that she was not a Keralite
b) The way women still cry when they see her movies
c) The sheer quantity of quality movies that she has given us is unmatched.
So cheers to this grand old dame and three more cheers to Malayalam cinema. May women still get meaningful roles and may we get more powerful actresses.
PS:
Honourable mentions:
Navya Nair has not maintained the initial tempo she displayed in ’Nandanam’. However she still has potential.
Revathy was my childhood crush. But again she grew to be stylised and her natural acting ability was lost. But she has still given us some good characters.