The Cuckoo’s Melody Continues....Can we stop and care to listen? Neelakkuyil (1954) – Malayalam Movie Review and Analysis.

 

            Neelakkuyil is undoubtedly a feminist, cast-overturning saga released at a time when we would least expect it to. It came to a group of audience who were still busy settling their affairs after the newly won independence. The independence they had won was just political and therefore it was incomplete. They had plenty of other issues to solve. They had caste issues to settle, social issues to settle, economic issues to settle, and what not! It was also a time when the united Malayalam speaking Kerala State was still in the figments of a select few. It was in such a time that this movie foraged into the psyche of Malayalee viewers. The audacity for bringing such a novel concept to Malayalam Cinema, at a time when 'sentimental' woman themes lulled the audience, deserve the first round of applause while many other rounds follow for various other reasons. The film is a landmark in the history of Malayalam Cinema. It received silver medal of the President, a unique achievement at that time.

           We will try to see how Neelakkuyil becomes the creme de la creme of socialist dogmatization through the artifice of cinema as being the perfect weapon reflecting social realism.

            The movie begins with a happy scene of harvest-song where laborers in glee, express their content and fulfillment in successfully marking the end of yet another agricultural season. The painstaking efforts of the makers is evident from the first scene itself. This is very important to notice, as the context in which the movie was produced is not known for the advancements in technological and cinematic expertise. The opening scene is thus a testimony to the dedication and perspiration of the unmatched creative cooperation among the people who worked behind the movie. Thus it is safe to say that the scene is apt to establish the agricultural setting and hence, the liveliness of such an agrarian society.

            It follows an intense scene of the downpour which visits the team as a surprise crisis. During this crisis the farm bunds rupture. This early rupture foreshadows a greater rupture that is to come. Amid the confusion, we are led to a man engrossed in reading at the comfort of his cozy home. He is lifted from the pages of his book by the visit of a woman laborer named Neeli. She has come there seeking shelter in the rain. It is evident that they know each other for quite some time. From the moment of her arrival, the torrential rain is used as a clever natural metaphor to suggest the sexual tension in the mind of Sreedharan Nair. As a continuation of this mental state of him, we are led to witness the gathering of a group of furious clouds followed by thunder and lightning. These images are brilliantly used as montages to suggest the intensity of a possible chance sexual encounter with Nair and Neeli. At the end of all this, a monkey hops onto Nair’s bed.

            Besides presenting a stunning visual treat, the auditory experience is also not uncared for; every scene follows the jubilation and enthrallment of the plot in the form of suitable background scores and songs. This helps the movie to carry forward its rhythmic pace which it was careful enough to build from the beginning itself.

            The affair of the duo burgeons in the scenic backdrop of the 50’s Kerala with the pomp and grandeur of beautiful songs penned by P. Bhaskaran and set to music by K. Raghavan. The artifice of animal imagery is efficiently employed in the movie. Schoolmaster Mr. Nair is always accompanied by his pet monkey whom he calls ‘Rama’. Neeli, on the other hand, is addressed by him as ‘Neelakkuyil’, the blue cuckoo. Although, Neeli objects his use of the term ‘Neelakkuyil’ he still prefers to use the term and continues to call her so. As a cuckoo, Neeli is good at songs. One of her songs: “Ellarum Chollanu...Kallanu Nenjilennu..Njanonnu thottappol neelakkarimbinte thundaanu kandathayya…” shows her unflinching faith in master despite the popular belief that he is a stone-hearted guy. Strangely, what we see later is that there was truth in people’s opinion of him. The monkey and bird can be directly used to compare the general nature and temperament of the two. Like the master’s monkey, his mind is vagrant and restless. Conversely, like the blue cuckoo, Neeli is quite innocent and high spirited.

            As the main plot progresses with the sweet romantic affair of the schoolmaster and the low caste Pulaya girl Neeli, we also get to notice a subplot building up. This involves a moderate Nair household in a deplorable condition occupied by an old man, his sister, and her son Kuttan. Kuttan Nair is a wayward who is quite unconcerned of what is happening in his house. It is intriguing to notice how the makers conceived the character of Kuttan Nair. From his appearance and demeanor, he is definitely a character of careful thought. Kuttan Nair appears with a Hitler-mustache and his constant obsession with theft suggests that he represents the sorry condition of feudalism which went hand in hand with the middle class. Here, it is to be noted that Kuttan Nair's father is an upper-caste Brahmin while his mother is a middle-class Nair woman. We must not forgo to notice how the communist ideology of bourgeoise wreaking havoc in the populace is thematically brought into this typical character of Kuttan Nair. 

His father is an unconcerned carefree fellow who rarely appears on the screen. Kuttan Nair is an imbecile, an occasional thief, and a drunkard. His uncle and mother plan to get him married off to his cousin Nalini to set him straight. The old man who is Kuttan’s uncle is the one who decides the affairs of the house.

            He pawns the house and its property as the financial condition of their family is quite weak. When we consider the charm and fast pace of the romantic affair of Nair and Neeli, the subplot falters greatly in its dramatic portrayal and want of strong performances. Although Nair and Neeli meet often, their whereabouts are not made explicit at this point of the movie. Later, Nair receives a letter whose content the viewer never learns.

            As expected, a turn of events happens in the love affair of Nair and Neeli. She becomes pregnant with his child. Neeli, who weaved dreams of having a wonderful life with Nair is shocked to learn that he is unwilling to shoulder the responsibility of their child. Even after repeatedly pleading and making him aware of what will happen to her if he is to avoid her, Nair abandons her. His only solution as he sees is to make her marry somebody else, thereby conceal the pregnancy and avoid societal ostracism from his caste. However, it is interesting to note that he thinks nothing of her condition, as she will also be ostracized from her caste if he abandons her. Despite her repeated cries to accept her love (note that she rejects the idea of marrying someone else, as she still loves him deeply), Nair abandons her.

          As this scene blends onto the next, we see the departing steps of Nair layered over an inconsolably wailing Neeli. It is as if he is trampling over her body rejecting her pure love. We are then taken to a deeply agitated Nair who is shown pacing inside his room.

        To the window of his room, symbolic of the present state of Neeli, we notice a trapped cuckoo.  We also notice the sobbing sound of Neeli, suggesting she herself has transmigrated into the soul of this cuckoo. As he shuts the window, the cuckoo flies out and falls upon the ground.

            A common scene in many Malayalam movies is the tea-shop. It serves the important function of portraying a representative cross-section of the times. It is a place where we can witness people of all ages, and castes. It is to be noted that as it is the case with most literary works of the period, here also, characters are addressed by each other with caste names. The practice of calling people based on their respective caste titles attest to the fact that castism was still vigorously practiced in the society. Although this was not done in a derogatory sense, also it was not innocuous. 

           An important character that sometimes serves as comic relief to an otherwise tragic story is Moithu. Throughout the movie, he intervenes at critical moments to make necessary comments upon the folly of the upper caste. His character is employed to announce the likely change that the makers expect to see in their audience.

            Postman Shankaran Nair is an interesting character not to be left unmentioned. As is the case with our master, Shankaran Nair also suffers from the essential joy and pain that perhaps only a family can fill. When postman Shankaran Nair broaches the idea of master’s marriage with Nalini, Nair responds with his anti-feminist gender remarks. On one occasion he announces that women, in general, are unintelligent and if at all there is an intelligent woman she cannot be anything more than a radio set or a motor car.

            Meanwhile, Neeli is ousted from her cast as she brought dishonor to her caste, family, and community. This takes place on the very day of the master’s marriage with Nalini. Although she is repeatedly beaten by her father to reveal the name of the father of the child she carries, she never reveals this. It shows Neeli’s integrity, a stark contrast to the personality of the man who cheated her. After having turned into a pariah, Neeli is forced to live in the streets.

        In order to fill the vacuum he feels in his life, postman Shankaran Nair offers refuge to Neeli. Later, through the words of Shankaran Nair we learn that Nalini, in her despondency died by the railway track giving birth to Mohanan. Thus, Neeli’s and master’s child Mohanan (Shankaran Nair is still unaware of the fact that it is the master’s child) is raised by him as his own.

            We are then introduced to a five-year-old schoolboy Mohanan. He, for the absence of his biological father and mother, turns mischievous each day. He is forced to engage in a tiff with his classmates on account of his disloyal birth. At this point, the efforts of child actors cannot be left unnoticed. The boy who plays Mohanan does his best in showing the pangs of a bastard child while the boy who confronts him is equally better in many respects. The makers of the movie must have gone through hours of ordeal to achieve the intended effect and it pays back fruitfully

            The plot then navigates to master Shreedharan Nair. Torn between his duty as a husband to Nalini and father to Mohanan, master Sreedharan Nair goes through excruciating mental suffering as detailed in his own words. At this point, once the movie starts veering to its sentimental track, we see the cinematic effects of the movie greatly suffering. Despite this staggering, the movie reclaims its cinematic effect once the master musters the courage to disclose the truth to Nalini that Mohanan was his child. The revelation of the truth is accompanied once again by rain, much in the similar manner as the crucial meeting of Neeli and master took place in the beginning.

            The overreaching positive face of women in general, despite the cultural and social disparity that exists among them, is an important thing to be noticed. The writer and director of the movie never underplayed the significance of the upper caste woman Nalini in order to buttress the goodness of Neeli, the low caste Pulaya girl. This is evident in the scene where Nalini tells her husband that even if she could forgive him for what he did to her, she possibly could not have forgiven him for making a child suffer societal scorn and ostracism. Here, the women characters are uplifted to a place where men are unable to raise themselves.

            Mohanan, after having failed in making the society accept him as one of its members, leaves the place. However, he is caught in the downpour again, only to be rescued by his biological father, master Sheedharan Nair. Although the child is won back by postman Shankaran Nair, who raised him, he is sent back to where he actually belongs-to the love and protection of his father, master Shreedharan Nair and his mother’s friend Nalini, his new mother. The movie ends as the determined postman Shankaran Nair leaves the master’s house asking his child to be raised only as a man; a great man and not as a Pulaya, Mappila or Nair.

            The performance of main actors were not overdone so as it never stays inside the scope of the movie. The main actors like Satyan, P Bhaskaran, (the director himself, although he is a bit preachy at times), and Miss Kumari and Prema Menon have demonstrated stellar performances without flaws.

            Neelakkuyil, in its purpose to conscientize a generation that had only begun to recognize its own evils of castism, exploitation of women, and over-dependence on religious dogmas, can be called a definite success. Its bold message to see a man just as man irrespective of his color, religion, caste, and gender will continue to shine in the annals of history as one of the greatest instruments of social change. As the representative of an enlightened 19th-century man the postman walks toward the light of knowledge while the curtains come down. However, the questions and answers Neelakkuyil left to us still harry modern Kerala in numerous ways. It necessitates the openness and eclecticism of the Blue Cuckoo. Her melody continues...Can we stop and care to listen?

Reference

Joseph, Jenson. “Revisiting Neelakkuyil: On the Left's Cultural Vision, Malayali Nationalism and the Questions of 'Regional Cinema'.” TAPASAM, Sept. 2012.

“Neelakuyil.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 7 May 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neelakuyil.

-Anjoe Paul-