Six Films and One Promise: Sreekumaran Thampi on Srividya
Sreekumaran Thampi opens up about six films with Srividya, her voracious reading, the promise she made about his son, and why he stopped Amma Thampuraatti.
Few Indian actors are remembered as much for what they read as for how they performed. In a new remembrance, filmmaker-lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi traces that connection through six films with Srividya, the Malayalam and Tamil star who brought a literary intelligence to the screen.
A promise made years early
Thampi first saw Srividya when she was around 13 or 14 in what is now Chennai. He was with R. K. Shekhar, A. R. Rahman’s father, who recognised her as the daughter of M. L. Vasanthakumari and predicted a bright future. Years later, they would become collaborators.
Their working relationship began under awkward circumstances. Srividya had briefly stepped away from films after her marriage to George Thomas, only to discover that the man she had married was a benami for the producer of Theekanal. She returned to acting, and Thampi offered her Venalil Oru Mazha. Despite a public statement that she would not work with co-star Madhu again, she agreed, and the two became friends once more.
Six films and a state award
Thampi and Srividya worked together in six films. The list includes:
- Jeevitham Oru Gaanam — the role of Thresiamma that won her the Kerala State Film Award.
- Puthiya Velicham — a remake of the Meena Kumari-Dharmendra starrer Phool Aur Patthar.
- Ambalavilakku — the first Malayalam film to be shot in Kashmir.
- Swantham Ennu Padam and Aakramanam, among others.
Thampi is clear that her reading set her apart. “She was a voracious reader,” he says. “It showed in her performances.” She read Tamil writers such as Akilan and introduced him to Ponniyin Selvan by handing him two books — thirty-five years before Mani Ratnam adapted it.
The bond had its spats too. After a misunderstanding during Jeevitham Oru Gaanam, Thampi said he would not work with her again. Srividya’s retort: “Sreekumaran Thampi is not Satyajit Ray, so it’s okay if he doesn’t want to work with me.” They had three more films under production and completed them like professionals.
A promise on the last day
On the final day of Swantham Ennu Padam, Srividya posed for a photo with Thampi’s eight-year-old son, who played her on-screen son, and asked to play his mother when he grew up. Years later, when his son was 22 and had written Ammede Magan, Thampi remembered. Srividya took two days out from a Munnar shoot to play the mother and refused payment until Thampi insisted as producer. The one-hour film aired in two episodes on Doordarshan and remains on YouTube.
Their last collaboration was the serial Amma Thampuraatti. Thampi conceived the role of a 45-year-old aristocratic woman from a tharavadu with only Srividya in mind. When cancer returned, he shot around 48 or 49 episodes without a body double. He noticed her slurring at a dubbing session and asked her to go to hospital immediately. She was admitted and never returned. At the hospital, she held his hand and said, “Thank you for everything.”
After the 49th episode, Thampi appeared on camera to tell viewers that Amma Thampuraatti was no more. He stopped the serial and took a loss of ₹8 lakh. “I could not continue without Srividya,” he says.
Source: Filmfare
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