MT’s words turn into moving images yet again, after a decade

Stream nine Malayalam films based on M.T. Vasudevan Nair's short stories, featuring A-list actors, directed by renowned filmmakers.

With his screenplays, M.T. Vasudevan Nair bridged the gap between the commerce and the art in Malayalam cinema like nobody else could before him.

He penned some of the most unforgettable films in the language such as Niramlyam (which also marked his directorial debut), Amrutham Gamaya, Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Thazhvaram, Sadayam, Parinayam, and Perunthachan.

It has been more than a decade since his last film, Ezhamathe Varavu, was released. On Thursday, Zee5 will begin streaming nine films featuring MT’s screenplays in a series produced by Saregama, titled Manorathangal.

All the movies are based on his short stories. They are directed by some of the top directors in Malayalam cinema and boast a stellar cast headed by Mammootty and Mohanlal, two actors who have played some of M.T.’s greatest characters.

The project was conceived by M.T.’s daughter Aswathy V. Nair, an accomplished classical dancer. She felt there was a lot of potential for a series of films based on her father’s short stories.

“The idea came to me during the COVID-19 outbreak and I discussed it with my father, who gave me the nod to go ahead,” Aswathy told The Hindu at her residence in Kozhikode. “I made a long list of 50 short stories and we made our final list from that.”

Aswathy herself has directed one film in the series. “I had not wanted to but had to step in after things didn’t work out with a couple of directors,” she says. “Thanks to the encouragement from the likes of Santosh Sivan, who has directed one film in the series, I decided to take a plunge.”