Chemmeen

Karutthamma is the daughter of a Hindu fisherman and falls in love with Pareekutty, a Muslim fish trader. The prejudices of the two communities come between them, and each meets the anger of their own people. Karutthamma is later married to Palani. The film takes love not as a private matter but inside the rules of the coastal village. How the fishing community makes its living, and what it believes, is the ground of the account. The story is adapted from the novel by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. The film won India’s award for best feature film that year and is counted a turning point in Malayalam cinema. Sheela, Madhu and Sathyan appear in Ramu Kariat’s hundred and forty minute Indian film, completed in 1965.