She was a versatile actor with an unlimited treasure of energy who could essay any role with ease. Sukumari never suffered from fatigue for her age even in the last lap of her life. The roles she gracefully enacted range from aristocratic women to keeper of a brothel to the wife of a hangman. Sukumari remains a wonder in the industry, where an actor could easily fall in prey for type casting.
Though she appeared as a lovable mother of almost all south Indian actors, she essayed each of them in a unique style. She shared a close camaraderie with Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa, who incidentally was her “first daughter” on screen in ‘Pattikkada Pattanama’.
Her popular roles include the comic characters she portrayed in Priyadarsan movies. These include his first film ‘Poochakkoru Mookkuthi’, in which Sukumari played an upper-class woman who is crazy about rock music; the Dickammayi in ‘Boeing Boeing’ and Maggi Aunty in ‘Vandanam’. She could essay Maluvamma, the keeper of a brothel in ‘Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil’, for which she won the state Award for second best actress (1985), with same ease as a caring home nurse Maggi in ‘Dasaratham’.
“Be it a jealous mother-in-law or a dotting mother or a chic Anglo-indian, she beautifully portrayed every single role that she did. From the first movie, Sukumari amma had been an integral part of all my projects, except some serials,” said veteran filmmaker Sreekumaran Thampi.
The national recognition came much later to her in 2011 in the form of ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for the portrayal of an aged widow in the Tamil film ‘Namma Gramam’, which was simultaneously made in Malayalam too.
Her portrayal of a pompous woman from an aristocratic family in ‘Diamond necklace’, was well received by the audience.
“She was ill while acting in ‘Diamond necklace’, but she cared much for me as she had lit the lamp for the first film I directed,” said director Lal Jose, who directed her in more than a dozen films, including the latest flick ‘Immanuel’ which will be released soon.