God of Small Things: Malayalam actor-writer-director Sreenivasan created brilliance from the banal

Sreenivasan, an underrated icon of Malayalam cinema, acted in over 200 films, creating relatable characters and stories.

In Kerala, nearly everyone has some deadpan dialogue to deliver from a role played by Sreenivasan.

Malayalam actor-director-producer Sreenivasan passed away on Saturday after a long career spanning nearly five decades.

The re-enacting of Sreenivasan's film lines comes easy because the actor, who also wrote, directed and produced many Malayalam movies, lived the roles of common people on the screen.

Sreenivasan, who passed away in Thrippunithura near Kochi early Saturday aged 69 after battling severe cardiac ailments, leaves behind a rich legacy of cinematic comedies that are filled with unforgettable characters over a more than four-decade-long career.

The genius of the Malayalam actor and his characteristic style of using humour and satire to reflect the most difficult realities of life made it sure there is no one comparable to him in Indian cinema.

"There has never been an actor like Sreenivasan in the Indian film industry. He is incomparable," says Kochi-based political cartoonist Bony Thomas, a longtime follower of the actor's works.

"There is a famous line from a Sreenivasan film that is often said during political debates on television and in the street. Polandine patti oru aksharam mindaruthu. (Don't utter a word about Poland)," say Thomas, a trustee of the Kochi Biennale Foundation.

"The line by Sreenivasan in his 1991 film, Sandesham, about two brothers with opposing political beliefs, is a powerful final word to end any political argument," says Thomas, underlining the actor's influence on generations of people in Kerala.

Sreenivasan's movies, like the 1989 film, Vadakkunokkiyantram (Compass) in which he plays the role of a husband memorising jokes from magazines to mask his insecurities from his attractive wife, and Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (Shyamala who is lost in her thoughts), a 1998 blockbuster where he is a village school teacher trying to win back his family after a series of misadventures at becoming successful, made him a cultural icon in the Kerala society battling its own demons of socio-economic inequalities.

Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (Shyamala who is lost in her thoughts) is one of Sreenivasan's acclaimed films reflecting his characteristic nonchalant style.

In Nadodikkattu (The Wandering Wind), an 1987 film written by himself, Sreenivasan joined Mohanlal to reflect the realities of migration from Kerala to the Gulf in the '80s, playing two overqualified peons in a firm seeking a better life in Dubai, but ending up on the Chennai beach after a botched boat journey to the UAE.

"We have seen these characters played by Sreenivasan on the screen because these kinds of characters are everywhere," explains Thomas. "Sreenivasan's genius was that he could come up with a story and a movie about such characters and play them without batting an eyelid."

"Sreenivasan's films were like a mirror to society," says Alappuzha-born artist V S Blodsow. "You can go back to watching his films and they always look contemporary."

A diminutive man with the much-feared social obstacles for success, like a dark complexion and normal, not-so-handsome face, Sreenivasan was never meant to make it big on the screen. But he did, by playing exactly who he was without any hindrance or hesitation.

"Sreenivasan made his looks his asset and took over the glamour-oriented film industry in Kerala without being a 'star'," says A J Joji, a photographer who grew up watching the actor's films.

"He was a powerhouse of talent," says Bengaluru-based Sara Jose, a homemaker born in Kerala. "His dialogues and body language ensured his roles couldn't be played by anybody else. If you were having a bad day, you could watch one of his movies, and the world was suddenly all right again," adds Jose. "Sreenivasan immortalised our lives on the screen."

"Sreenivasan wrote and made realistic movies long before the genre of realism came to Malayalam cinema," says Ananthu Nambiar, an architect who studied at CEPT University in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

Chinthavishtayaya Shyamala (Shyamala who is lost in her thoughts) is one of Sreenivasan's acclaimed films reflecting his characteristic nonchalant style.

"We can relate to the themes, events and characters he developed even today," adds Nambiar. "That was his genius."

Despite his wit, dark humour and nonchalant appearance that made him a cultural icon, Sreenivasan didn't achieve stardom like his contemporaries Mohanlal or Jayaram did while acting in his films or alongside him.

"Sreenivasan never got his due. He is the most underrated actor of his generation in Malayalam cinema," adds Blodsow.

Born in a remote village near Thalassery in Kannur district of Kerala, Sreenivasan acted in more than 200 films after landing a tiny role in a mainstream movie in 1976. A Bachelor of Economics and a trained filmmaker, he gradually found his feet in the Malayalam film industry, going on to write his first film eight years later. He never looked back.

Sreenivasan is survived by his wife Vimala and their two sons, Vineeth Sreenivasan, an acclaimed actor in Malayalam cinema, Dhyan Sreenivasan, also an actor and director.