How Sreenivasan rewrote Malayalam cinema, one ordinary life at a time

Sreenivasan is undoubtedly one of the master screenwriters of Malayalam cinema. Director-screenwriter Priyadarshan once described him as a friend akin to a guru. After hearing the story of ‘Vellanakalude Naadu’, Priyan asked Sreeni, in exasperation, how a dry, factual theme dealing with the legal tangles of the contract system could be presented as an entertaining film. Sreeni’s response was his natural, gentle smile. Since he did not have the habit of writing the entire script in advance, he would write scene by scene and bring them to the location. Priyadarshan and the actors who read the scenes would burst into laughter. When the film reached theatres, that contagious laughter spread to audiences across Kerala. Even after three decades, the film continues to evoke the same reaction from viewers. Sreenivasan’s films stand as a testament to time, even as audiences' tastes keep changing.

The path to screenwriting
Sreenivasan made his debut as a screenwriter in 1984 with Priyadarshan’s ‘Odaruthammava Aalariyam’ and has since completed four decades in writing. While ‘Screenplay and Dialogues: Sreenivasan’ appeared on posters and title credits for the first time with ‘Odaruthammava Aalariyam’, he had been working behind the scenes on several films as a creative contributor and ghostwriter years earlier. He began by collaborating on the screenplay for KG George’s ‘Mela’, based on a story by Sreedharan Champad. George and others held Sreeni’s opinions in high regard during discussions. Later, Sreeni himself acknowledged that it was during those days that he gained a clear understanding of the technical, aesthetic and structural aspects of screenwriting, and of how a story becomes a screenplay.
Collaborating with KG George, widely regarded as a master craftsman of Malayalam cinema, proved beneficial for Sreenivasan in many ways. Sreeni went on to write several films without credit, often driven by financial necessity. At the time, he had not even considered screenwriting as a profession. Acting was his true passion. An indomitable desire to succeed as an actor drove him forward. Early on, however, he was offered only minor roles, making brief appearances in films such as ‘Panchavadi Palam’ and ‘Angadi’.
The turning point came with his growth as a screenwriter. As Priyadarshan became busier as a director, juggling both writing and directing became increasingly difficult. Priyan, then based in Chennai, insisted that Sreeni move to Thiruvananthapuram and write his new film, offering him a substantial role in return. Left with little choice, Sreeni picked up the pen. He later joked, in his characteristic style: “Priyadarshan is the giant who threw me into the cauldron of screenwriting.”

Towards Sathyan Anthikad
‘Odaruthammava Aalariyam’ was a success. Soon after, when Sibi Malayil planned ‘Mutharamkunnu PO’, based on a story by Jagadish, Sreeni was once again entrusted with the screenplay. Realising that writing was essential to his survival and growth as an actor, he returned to the craft. With ‘Mutharamkunnu PO’ becoming a hit, filmmakers began seeking him out. He went on to script several major successes of the period, including ‘Boeing Boeing’.
Yet this phase was not entirely his comfort zone. Writing slapstick comedies out of necessity, Sreeni gradually discovered his own voice and range. This transformation was shaped decisively by director Sathyan Anthikad. After watching ‘Mutharamkunnu PO’, Sathyan felt he had found the writer he had been searching for. It was the coming together of two like-minded sensibilities, almost a historic alignment.
The Sathyan Anthikad–Sreenivasan partnership produced films such as ‘Gandhinagar 2nd Street’, ‘Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam’ and ‘Nadodikkattu’. These were not mere comedies. They fused humour with human crises, vulnerabilities and social realities, retaining a deep inner seriousness. With films like ‘Varavelpu’, ‘Sandesam’, ‘Midhunam’ and ‘Vellanakalude Naadu’, humour became an outer layer, beneath which lay incisive portraits of social decay and systemic rot, earning wide acceptance.

The writer’s signature
Unlike earlier screenwriters rooted in theatre or literary traditions, Sreenivasan’s screenplays carried no trace of fantasy. They felt like pages torn from life itself. His characters never spoke in ornate language; they stepped directly from everyday life onto the screen. He clearly marked the boundary between literature and cinema, crafting dialogues and situations grounded in lived reality.
While this realism reached its fullest expression in his collaborations with Sathyan Anthikad, it was equally evident in Priyadarshan’s ‘Vellanakalude Naadu’ and ‘Midhunam’, Kamal’s ‘Paavam Paavam Rajakumaran’, and in Sreenivasan’s own directorial works.

Truths wrapped in humour
Sreenivasan’s films used humour and family relationships as a surface layer while probing deeply into human and social crises. He consciously set aside the actor within him to articulate certain truths. Though capable of earning acclaim as a serious performer, he often chose clownish roles in mainstream cinema, using caricature and exaggeration as effective tools of communication.
Beneath the humour lay sharp social critique. Corruption, trade unionism, unemployment, labour exploitation, bureaucracy, homelessness and the gap between ideals and lived reality recur across his work. Yet his films never descend into preaching. These concerns are woven seamlessly into the narrative, allowing audiences to experience them rather than be instructed.

The middle-class chronicler
Sreenivasan emerged as the most perceptive chronicler of middle-class life in Malayalam cinema. His films captured the fragile balance between aspiration and limitation. In works such as ‘Thalayana Manthram’, ‘Midhunam’ and ‘Varavelpu’, he explored the tension between dreams and practicality, emotional needs and economic realities.
Life in Sreenivasan’s cinema is never devoid of hope. Amid crises and contradictions, there is always a quiet optimism rooted in realism. His films end not with fairy-tale resolutions but with believable faith in human resilience.

Cinema and politics
Sreenivasan’s political cinema stood apart from slogan-driven narratives. His films were character-centric, using personal and family struggles to reflect wider social and political truths. Politics dissolved into the core of the narrative, communicated with clarity and restraint.
His greatest strength as a screenwriter lay in saying less and suggesting more. Natural dialogue and visual storytelling replaced verbose exposition. Even minor characters were carefully etched, often standing in for entire sections of society.

A lasting legacy
Sreenivasan’s films are neither escapist fantasies nor dry intellectual exercises. Even while engaging with serious concerns, they remain accessible and engaging. His attention to detail, command over nuance and deep understanding of human contradictions elevated Malayalam cinema.
Most of his characters belonged to the middle class, rarely inhabiting extremes of wealth or poverty. Through them, he chronicled the anxieties, aspirations, failures and resilience of Kerala society. Decades later, his films endure as living documents of twentieth-century Malayali social life, to be read and re-read by future generations.