Neelakuyil

• Sathyan as Sreedharan Nair(real Father of Neeli's Child) • Miss Kumari as Neeli • Prema as Nalini(wife of Sreedharan Nair) • P. Bhaskaran as Shankaran Nair, the postmaster(adoptive father of Neeli's Child) • • Manavalan Joseph as Naanu Nair • • • • • • ==Soundtrack==

There are nine songs, scored by K. Raghavan and penned by P. Bhaskaran, in a soundtrack regarded as a milestone in Malayalam film music history. Before Neelakuyil, Malayalam film soundtracks only had Hindi and Tamil songs. Raghavan introduced Malayali folk music into films by including them in the soundtrack. The musical genres utilised included Mappilappattu (Islamic music), Koyithupattu (a form of harvest singing), traditional prayers, romantic melodies, all of which emanated from the folk traditions of Kerala. The songs were choreographed by Guru Gopalakrishnan Kodungallur. The song "Kayalarikaathu Vala Erinjappol" was used in Deepan Sivaraman's stage adaptation of O V Vijayan's magnum opus, Khasakkinte Itihasam. == Release ==

The film was released on 22 October 1954. The film was a box office success, running successfully for many weeks in packed theatres. Film historian, Jenson Joseph said, "If Social Realism in Indian cinema meant melodramatic rendering of the issues of the poor and the oppressed, Neelakuyil fits perfectly into this genre." ==Awards==

• 1954 - All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film • 1954 - President's Silver Medal for Best Feature Film in Malayalam ==Legacy==

In 2012, Jenny Rovin wrote, "Pre-Neelakuyil Malayalam cinema largely resembled Tamil cinema, if not, a poor imitation of it. Neelakuyil was the first film to break out of this and give Malayalam cinema its identity." The Times of India called it "the first authentic Malayalam film." The film won the All India Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film, and the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam, thus becoming the first nationally recognized Malayalam film. B. Vijayakumar of The Hindu wrote, "Neelakuyil was a landmark film in Malayalam cinema history that paved a new path for Malayalam cinema by breaking away from the earlier tradition of adapting plots from Hindi films for making Malayalam films, of which the story or the characters could never be identified with the culture of Kerala." Rajadhyaksha and Willemen, in Encyclopedia of Indian Cinema, wrote, " The trend of realist melodrama inaugurated by this film was to continue for over 20 years, in Kariat's own work and e.g. in Vincent's M.T. Vasudevan Nair films" ==References==