Pothen’s films addressed mental health much before society woke up to it

Of the 100-odd films in which late actor Pratap Pothen acted in as well as his 12 directorial ventures, what stays imprinted in public memory are the  two films –  Moodu Pani (1980) and Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai (1985) – which proved his dexterity in dealing with human psychology, both as an actor and a director.

In the former, directed by Bala Mahendra, Pratap shined as an actor, while the later, his directorial debut, earned him accolades for handling the delicate topic of mental health in a sensitive manner.

Watch: Pratap Pothen was at his best in psychological films – a revisit

With both the films having love as a common theme, Pratap sunk into the skin of a ‘pyscho killer in love,’ giving a convincing performance in Moodu Pani, while sensitively juggled the overlapping themes of love and mental health in Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai, where he also played the lead opposite actress Raadhika.

Introduced the picaresque hero to Tamil films

The formidable ‘psycho serial killer’ was introduced to Tamil film in Bharathirajaa’s Sivappu Rojakkal (1978) starring Kamal Haasan, but critics say it was Pratap who gave him endearing attributes by churning empathy for him among audiences.

While Sivappu Rojakkal’s serial killer murdered women after having sexual intercourse with them, the anti-hero in Moodu Pani murders sex workers without indulging in any intimacy.

Also read: Pratap Pothen: The original hippy of Malayalam cinema

Of the two, the audience empathised more with the character of Chandru (played by Prathap) than the “intelligent” and ‘hero-like’ Dileep (played by Kamal Haasan), for the simple absence of any heroic qualities.

“He was not well-built. He wore old-fashioned spectacles. He spoke gently. He looked like an introvert. These were the things that brought him closer to the normal audience and women started to love him. In a sense, he broke all the formulas that went into the making of a hero at that time,” film scholar Ajayan Bala told The Federal.

It was Balu Mahendra who introduced Pratap to the Tamil audience through his debut directorial venture Azhiyatha Kolangal (1979). Moodu Pani, was an opportunity for Pratap to unleash his full potential.

The film was based on the Tamil novel Naragathukku Puthiyavan by Rajendra Kumar, a writer of popular crime novels. Recently, the novel was reprinted in comic format by Chennai-based Thanga Thamarai Pathippagam.

Way ahead of his time

As a filmmaker Pratap was way ahead of his time when it came to addressing social issues and taboos. At a time when the matter of mental health was brushed under the carpet and when specially-abled or mentally challenged individuals were sidelined and made fun of, Pratap dared to tell the love story of two intellectually-challenged individuals in Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai.

Even though later films like Manasukkul Mathappu (1988) and Aararo Aariro (1989) touched on the topic, it was Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai that took the cake for beautifully and humorously narrating the stories of two mentally-challenged individuals without filling the plotline with sorrow or pity.

Humour was a key ingredient of the film and Pratap was careful to use it without making fun of the mentally disabled. Even though the story offered the scope to use a mental hospital as the backdrop, Pratap chose a school for the mentally-retarded instead – to give the film a livelier setting. The first half of the film is based in a school while the latter half is shot in a village called Korakundha, in the Nilgiris district.

The humour used in the film is often a satire on the society. There is a scene where Pratap’s Ganapathi comments how normal people are always “mad” about things like jewels, sex, business, money and social status, but the so called “abnormal” are free from all these bondages and live in the moment.

Interestingly, it is during that making of this film that Pratap and Radhika fell in love and married soon.

‘A trailblazer who did not get his due’

Talking to The Federal, Deepa Janakiraman, a film critic said that Pratap always had the feeling that he was not understood properly in Tamil film industry.

“He got varied opportunities as an actor in Malayalam film industry. But in Tamil film, he was pigeonholed into the characters of psycho killers and villains. Being a voracious reader, he approached the subjects he handled with utmost perfection and sensibility. Besides, in his younger days, he was treated and neglected as a wastrel by his own family. That had left a deep impression in him,” she said.

That neglect could be a reason why he was an introvert. But Shankarramasubramanian, a well-known Tamil poet said that in real life he was “gracious, benevolent and expressive”.

Though Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai bombed at the box office, it won a national award for the debut film director. Ajayan Bala said that despite the film’s debacle in the box office, Pratap didn’t stop making good and successful films like Vetri Vizha and Seevalaperi Pandi.