One of actor Mammootty’s finest films is Mathilukal (“Walls”). It is notable that Mammootty’s performance in this film was chosen by Forbes magazine as one of the 25 greatest acting performances in Indian cinema. The film, written, directed, and produced by Adoor Gopalakrishnan, won four Indian National Film Awards in 1990—for Direction, Acting, Sound Recording, and Best Regional Film.
Mammootty received the National Award for Best Actor for his role in Mathilukal and also for Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha. He remains the only actor to have received the Best Actor National Award simultaneously for two films in the same year.
The story of this film is based on a novella by the celebrated Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer. It is a semi-autobiographical work, inspired by his own experiences in prison.
Basheer, a political prisoner convicted of treason, is serving his sentence in a men’s prison. On the other side, in the women’s prison, lives Narayani, a female prisoner sentenced to life for murder. Separating them is a tall prison wall.
Through conversations across this wall, love blossoms between Basheer and Narayani. Remarkably, Narayani never appears on screen. Her presence is only felt through her voice, which carries the story forward. That voice belonged to K. P. A. C. Lalitha, one of Malayalam cinema’s most important actresses and a frequent collaborator in Adoor’s films. She passed away in 2022. Her voice in Mathilukal—filled with tenderness, passion, and yearning—touches and shakes the listener deeply.
The dialogues between these lovers, divided by walls, are so poetic and powerful that even Tamilians who do not know Malayalam can understand and be moved by them. To signal their presence, they throw small twigs over the wall. The falling twigs become their secret way of announcing: I am here.
They begin to plan a meeting. Just as Basheer prepares himself for that long-awaited encounter, he is unexpectedly released from prison. Narayani, unaware, waits as usual on the other side of the wall. She throws twigs to let him know she is there, but this time, Basheer is gone.
The twigs rising and falling over the wall torment not only Basheer, who leaves helplessly without saying goodbye, but also the audience watching the film. The story ends here—an unfinished love, abruptly broken, filled with unbearable sorrow. That is the essence of Mathilukal.
This is a film you carry with you for a lifetime after a single viewing. Time itself will make you realize that Mathilukal is one of those unforgettable cinematic experiences.
Interestingly, while the film’s poster depicts the woman on the other side of the wall, in the actual movie, she is never shown—only heard.
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