Sreelatha Namboothiri – Veteran character artist and comedian of Malayalam cinema

Sreelatha Namboothiri is a popular artist and comedian of Malayalam cinema, who has completed nearly 65 years in film industry. She has also rendered her voice for a few movie songs. She signed her first movie, Aasha Chakram in the 1960s, which had a delayed release. Khadeeja in 1967 was her first full-fledged role which had a theatre release. Since then she has portrayed over 300 character shades on screen. She is familiar to Malayali audience since B&W days, and still active with her small screen and big screen roles. Her combined scenes with comedy king Adoor Bhasi have made audience laugh for many years. Popular actress Kumari Thankam was her aunt.

She started her career as a singer in theatre

Sreelatha Namboothiri was born in Karuvatta, Alappuzha in year 1950 as the daughter of army man A. Balakrishnan Nair. Her mother was a music teacher. Her younger days were spent in Alappuzha, where she completed her studies. She wanted to become a music teacher, but became a film actress. She started off with theatre as a singer during her 7^th grade school classes. She worked with famous theatre group KPAC before turning an actress. Later she got a role to play before audience on stage, thus marking her acting debut. Acting fascinated her a lot, and she left both her academics and musical classes to pursue a career in acting in movies. She moved to Chennai.

Initially she got a role to play Adoor Bhasi’s heroine in Virudhan Shankhu which she rejected

As a film actress, the first role offered to her was Adoor Bhasi’s heroine. But she didn’t accept it. Interestingly later she came to prominence through the character roles she played on screen, mostly some hilarious comedy scenes with Adoor Bhasi. Many of them were detective films. Aasha Chakram was her first movie, where she played Sathyan’s daughter. But the movie had a theatre release only in 1973, after Sathyan’s death. Thus Khadeeja in 1967 was her first theatre release. By the time Aasha Chakram got released, she already got the label of a comedian.

After showing face in one film, she first thought of leaving silver screen. But roles came her way, and she stayed here. She also played numerous glamorous roles on screen, and also wore glamorous outfits. During one of her peak years, she appeared in 35 movies in one calendar year. She has also received awards for appearing in more number of films. She sang for her own character roles in 18 movies, and has also rendered her voice once for actress Sri Vidhya.

She took a small break following her marriage

Her husband Kaladi Parameshwaran Namboothiri hailed from Kunnamkulam and was an Ayurvedic doctor. He was an acquaintance to Merryland Subramanyam. He also appeared in a few movies. That’s how she got introduced to him, and they got married. He was a member of Kaladi Mana, and the members of the family were not willing to accept her. Slowly things changed.

She got married in 1979 and retired from films. She returned from Madras to Kerala after completing Kolilakkam movie. Irony is that she chose last day of shooting as her final day of acting, and the lead actor Jayan died in a helicopter accident exactly on the same day. After marriage she helped her husband in her business, who ran an Ayurvedic medicine company. The couple later shifted to Thiruvananthapuram because of his health issues. He deceased in 2005. Their son Visakh is a physiotherapist, and the couple has one daughter too. Now she is settled in capital city.

Now she is active in movies and television

She returned to acting in 2005 soon after her husband’s death, and is active in the industry since then. She is a popular actress of small screen, and till now has done more than 30 TV shows. Her role as Achamma in Kasthoorimaan is popular. She was also seen in ‘Karutha Muthu’. She also appears in big screen. She was seen in Ambili, Captain, Fukri, Honey Bee 2.0, Laddu etc in the recent past.

Sreelatha Namboothiri – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Her first shot in films is an uncredited role in Bharyamar Sookshikkuka. She was seen in a small sequence in the popular song, Chandrikayil Aliyunna Chandrakantham. When she reached Madras, she wanted to see Prem Nazir once, and her uncle who was a film producer took her to studio. Director Sethu Madhavan asked her to do a makeup test, and thus she appears in the song for a moment or two.

2. Her real name is Ammukutty Parvathy Thankam.

3. She is also a professional Carnatic singer, and performs in live concerts. She took music lessons from famous music director and musician V. Dakshinamurthy.

4. She won state first twice in light music during her school days.

5. She was also good in athletics, and she never dreamt to become an actress. Her entry to films was co-incidence. She has won state level medals twice in long jump during her school days.

6. With her earnings from films, she taught four brothers, and also constructed a home in Chennai. She preferred to live a simple life, and didn’t give importance to luxury.

7. She appeared in numerous movies of Prem Nazir, mostly playing second fiddle or comic roles. Adoor Bhasi, Sreelatha and Bahadoor trio has delivered several hilarious comedy scenes to Malayalam cinema in the 1970s.

8. She admits that it was difficult for her to perform exceptionally well, when she shares screen space with Adoor Bhasi. She used to get a lot of scolding during initial days. In those days, scripts added special comedy scenes for Bhasi.

9. There were gossips and rumours of her relationship with her screen hero, Adoor Bhasi. Some magazines even wrote that they are getting married.

10. Only regret she has now is to live behind her music classes in the middle, to pursue an acting career. Now she finds time for music rehearsals.

11. Initially she rejected the lead role opposite Adoor Bhasi in Virudhan Sankhu, and later worked as his heroine in Padicha Kallan.

12. Adoor Bhasi used to add extra dialogues while performing, which were not in script. So it was not easy for Sreelatha to say counter dialogues, which was the real challenge for her. Slowly she reached the track.

13. She shared screen space with her real husband, a small-time actor in Papathinu Maranamilla, in 1979. They got married very soon.

14. She was converted to Antharjanam soon after marriage.

15. Noted film actress Kumari Thankam was her father’s sister.