Underplayed Gems

Chembarathi (1972)

Chembarathi poster
Original title
ചെമ്പരത്തി
Directed by
P. N. Menon
Genre
mystery, crime, drama
Country
India
Runtime
2h 20m
Elsewhere
IMDb
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How it feels

A young woman from a small town becomes entangled in a quiet romance and the social tensions around her. The story follows her choices and the consequences that reshape her life.

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What happens

Chemparathy (transl. Hibiscus) is a 1972 Malayalam-language film directed by P. N. Menon and written by Malayattoor Ramakrishnan. It was produced by S. K. Nair (S. Krishnan Nair), a famous literary personality and the founder of Malayalanadu weekly. It stars Madhu along with newcomers Roja Ramani, Raghavan and Sudheer in major roles. The film was an adaptation of Malayattoor's short story Lodge. Noted filmmaker Bharathan made his cinematic debut as an art director in the film. The film was a notable critical and commercial success upon release. The film won two awards at the Filmfare Awards South for Best Film - Malayalam and Best Actress - Malayalam. The film also won one Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Film. The film was remade in Tamil as Paruva Kaalam in 1974 with Roja Ramani repeating her role and Kamal Haasan playing the male lead and also in Telugu as Kanne Vayasu. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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