Nedumudi Venu: a great actor who nurtured deep links with Kerala’s cultural ethos, traditional art forms and literature

Nedumudi Venu was perhaps the last among a bunch of actors, including Thilakan, Bharat Gopi and Oduvil Unnikrishnan, who were the mainstay of Malayalam cinema in 1980s and 90s with an array of unforgettable character roles

In one of the memorable scenes from the 1987 film Sarvakalashala, the college student Lal, played by Mohanlal, tells the free-spirited poet Siddhan Aashan, played by Nedumudi Venu: “If Aashan leaves from here, my beat would become like that of a dead body. I want that other beat, the rhythm of life.” The scene leads into Aashan's rendition of ‘Athiru Kaakkum Malayonnu Thuduthe’ in Nedumudi's own folksy voice.

That scene perhaps gives a hint of what Nedumudi Venu was to Malayalam cinema, someone with deep links to its cultural ethos, its traditional art forms and literature, someone who imbibed the rhythm of life in Kerala's rice bowl Kuttanad and brought that sense of rhythm into his performances, which ranged from absurdly comical to deeply moving.