THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Malayalis woke up on Friday to find P K Rosy, the first female lead in a Malayalam cinema, adorning Google’s website as a doodle. Honouring her, the internet giant wrote, “Thank you for your courage and the legacy you leave behind, P K Rosy”.
It made rounds on the internet with several personalities, including actors Bhavana and Parvathy Thiruvoth sharing it via their social handles.
Born as Rajamma to a Dalit family in Thiruvananthapuram on February 10, 1903, Rosy had a passion for arts and acting from a very young age.
This passion soon saw her joining a theatre group, and later mastering the Kakkarissi Natakam, a folk art which blends Tamil and Malayalam.
By the time the role of a heroine came calling, Rajamma had become Rosamma, then later, Rosy. This was also a time when women taking up roles in theatre and film were considered worse than prostitution.
In J C Daniel’s Vigathakumaran (1928), Rosy donned the role of Sarojini, a Nair woman.
The idea of a Dalit playing the role of a higher caste woman enraged members of the Hindu community and fermented anger. But what transpired in the movie likely upped the ante even higher - a male lead kisses a flower pinned to Rosy’s hair.
An outraged audience pelted stones and damaged the screen in Capitol Theatre, Thiruvananthapuram, where the movie was premiered.
Fearing backlash, a thoughtful Daniel had not invited Rosy to the premiere show, but the harassment followed the young actress home. The burning of her hut forced her to flee the state and take refuge in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Here, she married and settled down as Rajammal, consigning her past identities to the same flames that persecuted her.
And in time, she was forgotten. It was director Kamal’s Celluloid, a biographical film, that catapulted Rosy to the limelight again. Today, she is revered as a revolutionary figure in Malayalam film history who broke boundaries.
In honour, Women in Cinema Collective named their film society after her, adding that “it is an attempt to take note of all those who have been excluded from dominant cinema histories.” Though she never received recognition for her work during her lifetime, Rosy’s story, as Google observes in its blog, is relevant to conservations about representation in the media.