It is perhaps a coincidence that curtains have fallen on the iconic filmography of actor, scenarist and director Sreenivasan, spanning nearly half a century, at a time when memes based on his evergreen political satire Sandesham are still circulating widely on social media to interpret the results of the recently held local body polls in Kerala.
In fact, Sandesham has never faded from public memory, even more than three decades after its theatrical release. Every political controversy or election since then has brought the film back into the limelight, especially after the advent of social media and memes. That relevance is unlikely to diminish even in the future, following the demise of its creator.
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Sreenivasan’s most talked-about film came 15 years after he entered the industry as an actor in Manimuzhakkam (1976), directed by P.A. Backer. A diploma holder in acting from the Pune Film Institute, where southern superstar Rajinikanth was a fellow student, Sreenivasan went on to act in notable films such as Mela and Kolangal directed by K.G. George, and Vilkanundu Swapnangal written by literary stalwart M.T. Vasudevan Nair in the 1980s.
Sreenivasan’s association with director Priyadarshan in the 1980s also marked his debut as a writer. While he acted in Priyadarshan’s slapstick debut Poochaykkoru Mookkuthy (1984), he also donned the hat of screenplay writer in the director’s second film Odaruthammava Aalariyam the same year. This marked the beginning of the successful ‘Sreeni-Priyan’ partnership, which for a long time proved to be a safe bet in the Malayalam film industry.
