THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finally, a permanent memorial for J C Daniel, the father of Malayalam cinema, is getting ready in the state. The statue of the filmmaker, who directed the first Malayalam film ‘Vigathakumaran,’ will be set up at the municipal stadium at Neyyattinkara and it will be the first such memorial for him in the state. In addition, there will be film screenings at the stadium by various film clubs at Neyyattinkara.
Neyyattinkara municipal chairman P K Rajmohan evinced interest in setting up the memorial after the J C Daniel Foundation which is headquartered in Kottayam approached him. For a long time, the statue made under the aegis of the foundation was kept in Kottayam and it was shifted to Neyyattinkara recently after the municipality showed interest as Daniel spent his last days at a rented house at Neyyattinkara.
Rajmohan told TNIE that the municipality is planning to unveil the memorial on April 27, the birth anniversary of J C Daniel. “We are working on it for its launch. It will be a state-of-the-art centre. It will not be a memorial statue alone. There will be live programmes and film shows so that it would become a cultural nerve centre of Neyyattinkara in future. There will be an open-air theatre and a park. The fund for the project is through sponsorships. We also have plans to introduce a J C Daniel award of Rs 1 lakh in the future,” he said.
In a Facebook post, CPM Thiruvananthapuram district committee said that Daniel was born in Agastheeswaram in Kanyakumari district but spent the rest of his life in Neyyattinkara. At that time he was staying in an old building in the backyard at Krishnapuram on the national highway where the present Neyyattinkara Water Authority Division Office is functioning. The homestead belonged to former Neyyattinkara municipal commissioner S R Krishna Iyer.
In the 1970s, when Kariyil Krishna Pillai was the chairman, the municipality bought the property from Krishna Iyer’s heirs and handed it over to the water authority. The facade of the old run-down building was later renovated. Currently, the statue is being kept at the municipal office.