Newspaper Boy (1955 film)

• Master Moni as Appu • Master Narendran as Balan • Master Venkiteswaran as Pappan • Master Mohan as Gopi, Madhava Menon's son • Baby Usha as Indira, Madhava Menon's daughter • Kumari Madhuri as Leela • Nagavally R. S. Kurup as Sankaran Nair • Veeran as Kesavan Nair • Kuriyathi as Kittummavan • G. R. Nair as Madhava Menon • P. Gangadharan Nair as Raghavan • T. R. Omana • K. Madhavan as Sreedhara Menon • Neyyattinkara Komalam as Kalyani Amma • Adoor Pankajam as Lakshmi Amma • Omana Madhavan as Kamalamma • Chandni as Pankajam, Kittummavan's daughter • Miss Kumari • Snehalatha • Venkiteswaran == Production ==

Development P. Ramdas once read in Filmfare magazine that Raj Kapoor was India's youngest film director. Ramdas, who was 18 then, dreamed of making a film and told his friends that he would soon take this honour. One of his friends, Subramanian Parameswaran, who studied with him at University College in Thiruvananthapuram, was also passionate about movies. The idea to make the film was born out of Ramadas's and Parameswaran's desire to make a movie "of the beaten track." They were heavily inspired by the themes of Italian neorealism, which had already created waves in the Malayalam literary circles. The two young minds wanted to bring this new wave to cinema too. Ramadas was sure his own short story "Compositor" would be the best option to start with. The story was first published in Mahatma Malayala Masika, the world's first magazine run by students. It was later included in the book Thalirukal, published by Mahatma Publishing House. Movies of V. Shantaram also inspired Ramadas and Parameswaran to make such a "different" movie. Ramadas wrote a "film treatment", by making certain changes in his short story, and developed it into a complete script by 1953 September–October. The story is retold from the perspective of a twelve-year-old boy in the screenplay. The story's central character is Lonappan, who was renamed as Sankaran Nair in the screenplay. Nair's son Appu is the central character of the film while this character has little importance in the story. He planned to film the movie in May 1954, after his exams, and booked a floor of the erstwhile Merryland Studio in Thiruvananthapuram for indoor shooting. The film was produced by Adarsh Kalamandir, a subdivision of Mahatma Memorial Association, founded by Ramadas and his friends in 1945 as Balasangham. The ever-growing enthusiasm of the students found the Association venturing into a field hitherto undreamt of by the student population of the world. Casting P. Ramdas wanted to cast amateurs and new-faces in all the departments of his film. K. C. Ponkunnam (K. C. Francis) was assigned to write the songs, Kanthaswamy was chosen as the art director, and Vijayan and his brother Ramachandran as music directors. All of them were members of Mahatma Memorial Association and had a long-term association with Ramadas through the plays he had directed. V. Balakrishnan, who played woman characters in all of Ramadas's plays, was given the job of costume designing. The realism-influenced train sequence, inspired by a scene from Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, was filmed from Ernakulam South railway station. Ramadas was ready to go for any number of retakes to get the right output from the cast. For instance, he wanted to shoot the scene in which Kittummavan explains his son about Sankaran Nair's condition in a single shot. To get what he had in mind, Ramadas needed seven takes. Dialogue-dubbing was not common then and live sound recording was to be used. The Ferrograph tape-recorder was used for mixing much of the background sound. Shooting was finished in early 1955. == Release ==

P. Ramdas was approached by various distribution companies while filming itself, but he rejected all the offers since he was sure that they would interfere in the making of his dream film. Ramadas could not find a distributor after the production for a long time. Later, Ernakulam-based R. S. Pictures and Kottayam-based Variety Pictures agreed to distribute the film in Kochi-Malabar and Travancore respectively. The film, made at a budget of , was panned by audiences who were not interested in seeing "their own lives onscreen", and ultimately became a big box office failure. Ramadas as well as his colleagues were bankrupt after the film's failure. Critical reception Newspaper Boy opened to positive reviews from various critics with many of them appreciating Ramadas for taking up such a risky and experimental film. However the film received criticism as well, mainly for its editing, sound mixing and music. A reviewer from The Bombay Chronicle said that it was pleasant to find a film that was not "only 'progressive' in abandoning set formulae, but progressive" in how it did realism. The intent was said to be serious, but without bitterness underneath. The reviewer also complimented Newspaper Boy for its universality. Sunday Standards reviewer said the film is praiseworthy, and lacking amateur quality despite being made by students; the reviewer also commented on the film's emotional nature. A critic from Blitz said that the film's title is picturesque, and the film itself was "wonderful". The critic also said the film was thought-provoking, not only about its heartwarming but "disturbing" theme, but from its being produced by students. Reel-News said that the direction was excellent and the acting was livened by its young stars. A review by Screen India stated that the unusual part of the film was its lack of usage of "the usual box-office devices." Reviewers from the South also praised the film. Jayakeralam weekly said that the film was excellent and well-directed. A review by Deenabandhu said that the film presented the everyday life of a middle-class family with complete realism. A reviewer from Kerala Kaumudi compared the direction to that of the best non-Indian pictures. Film Divisions director V. R. Sharma stated that it marked a refreshingly new approach in Southern Indian film-making due to its realistic nature. He praised the acting, and said that the film's makers "can justifiably be proud of their achievement and deserve every encouragement." I. K. Menon, Secretary of the Indian Motion Picture Producers Association, said that the realism of the film was unbelievable, with a correct portrayal of everyday life in "Kerala without any exaggeration or colour merely to entertain, as is usual in films." == Songs ==

The songs are composed by Vijayan and his brother A. Ramachandran, both of them members of Mahatma Memorial Association. Background score was by Mahatma Sangeethamela, a subdivision of the Association. There are eleven songs in the film, and the playback singers include Kamukara Pusushothaman and Santha P. Nair. Ramachandran, one of the composers, says that all the songs were for a specific purpose, such as showing the passage of time. He adds his amazement about important singers agreeing to sing for them. The re-recording was done by Ramachandran alone, without his brother Vijayan, due to illness; he was not able to transfer the songs to better recording media due to inexperience. Nine songs were recorded from Merryland Studios, while the songs "Chirichukondeevazhikku" and "Pazhaya Yugangal" were recorded from Udaya Studios and from a studio in Madras respectively. Malayalam film music was copied from Hindi and Tamil film songs in those times. Ramadas wanted to change this system and in Newspaper Boy, all the tunes are original and follows the folk traditions of the State. Different from the films of that time, majority of songs were used as montage songs that appeared in the background of the film. Audio rights were bought by a newly formed Bombay-based company named Bulbil. But the company closed down before the film's release and no records were released. • "Kallilum Mullilum" — T. A. Kumaresan, T. A. Lakshmi • "Devi Sarweswari" — Shyamala • "Naranayingane Janichu Bhoomiyil" — P. Ganga • "Omanathinkal Kidavo" — Santha P. Nair • "Thekkankaatte" — Lakshmi • "Maveli Naadu Vaaneedum Kaalam" — Kamukara Purushothaman, Santha P. Nair, Lakshmi, Vijayan, Ramachandran • "Udayagiri Chuvannu" — P. Ganga • "Enthinu Kanneerennum" — Kamukara Purushothaman • "Chirichukondeevazhikku" — Ramachandran • "Pazhaya Yugangal" — Vijayan • "Thellakalathuninnu" — Kumaresan, T. A. Lakshmi == Awards ==

• 1956 – Madras Film Fans Association Award for Best Malayalam Film • 1962 – Kerala Sangeeta Nataka Academy Award for Best Script (selected from all the Malayalam films released between 1954 and 1962) == Legacy ==

Malayalee Indian director Pradeep Nair made a 24-minute documentary film titled Oru Neorealistic Swapnam (A Neorealistic Dream), which detailed the making of Newspaper Boy. The film was produced by V. S. Rajesh with credit from the Public Relations Department of Government of Kerala, and was conceived for Film Buff. T.M.P. Nedungadi of Mathrubhumi wrote, "It was a baby that was born prematurely, faintly breathing cinematic life. But in our country there were no incubators at that time to look after and nurture it.." The film's screenplay was published as a book by DC Books in July 2008. Noted screenwriter John Paul edited the book. The book consists of the script (rewritten by P. Ramdas since the original screenplay was lost), the original story, the songbook, reviews and memoirs. == See also ==