Malayalam cinema's mother, Aranmula Ponnamma passes away

Thiruvananthapuram: Malayalam cinema has lost its endearing symbol of motherhood with the passing away of Aranmula Ponnamma, who acted in nearly 500 films in a career spanning six decades.

Pairing first with the late Thikkurissi Sukumaran Nair in the early 1950s, Ponnamma had the unique record of playing mother to three generations of Malayalam actors, from Sathyan and Prem Nazir to Mohanlal and Suresh Gopi.

Despite her good looks, it was Ponnamma's fate to be typecast as the mother at the young age of 29 with the 1950 movie Sasidharan after establishing herself on the stage.

She made her theatre debut at a time when female roles were done by male artistes.

In almost all her films, she had been cast by directors to play a caring, loving and suffering mother.

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"Ponnamma's image is etched in memory of generations of viewers as a noble, dignified and caring mother. She also made a mark on account of her ease and originality of the roles she played," said film historian Balagopalan.

While her illustrious contemporaries like Adoor Bhavani and Adoor Pankajam did a variety of roles including comic and negative characters, Ponnamma always got positive roles only, which earned her love and affection within the film community and outside.

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The late actor Sathyan, who was older to her, always used to refer to Ponnamma as Amma (mother). In the black and white era of Malayalam cinema, hardly did any film come out without Ponnamma having a prominent role.

During her career, Ponnamma was the recipient of several honours including the National award for Best Supporting Actress for Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Kathapurushan in 1995.

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Her memorable films include Pareeksha, Oppol, Kandam becha Kotte, Amma, Hridayam Oru Kshetram, Lelam, and Akashadoothu.