Nirmala (film)

Nirmala
Directed by	P. V. Krishna Iyer
Produced by	P. J. Cherian
Screenplay by	Puthezhathu Raman Menon
Story by	M. S. Jacob
Starring	Joseph Cherian Baby Joseph
Music by	P. S. Divakar E. I. Warrier
Cinematography	J. G. Vijayam G. Ranganathan
Editing by	Balu
Studio	Kerala Talkies
Release date(s)	February 25, 1948 (1948-02-25)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

Nirmala is a 1948 Indian Malayalam film directed by P. V. Krishna Iyer and produced by P. J. Cherian.^[1] The fourth talkie in Malayalam, Nirmala introduced playback singing to Malayalam cinema.^[2] It was also the first film produced by a Malayali.

The songs were composed by P. S. Divakar, a renowned saxophone player, and E. I. Warrier. Lyrics were by renowned poet G. Sankara Kurup. There were 15 songs in the film, sung by P. Leela, P. K. Raghavan, Sarojini Menon, T. K. Govindarao, Vasudeva Kurup and Vimala B Varma.^[3] Govinda Rao and Sarojini Menon, who sang in this film, became the first male and female playback singers in Malayalam.^[2]

Cast

This film could be considered Cherian’s family project. His son Joseph Cherian was cast as hero, Joseph’s wife and Baby was the heroine. Apart from this his daughters, other relatives and artists from his own drama troupe were part of this film.^[2]

• Joseph Cherian
• Baby Joseph
• Cherthala Vasudeva Kurup
• P. J. Cherian
• Mathappan
• S. J. Dev
• Kamalamma

References

1. ^ "Tribute : Family affair". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 2008-04-25. http://www.hindu.com/fr/2008/04/25/stories/2008042550380400.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-06. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "NIRMALA 1948". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 2009-09-21. http://www.hindu.com/mp/2009/09/21/stories/2009092150570400.htm. Retrieved 2011-04-06. 
3. ^ "Nirmala". Malayalam Movie Database. Retrieved 2011-04-06.