Manju Warrier pays a heartfelt tribute to Kaviyoor Ponnamma, a cherished maternal figure in Malayalam cinema. She reflects on her connection with Ponnamma and her professional loss due to her passing.
"I never had the chance to play Kaviyoor Ponnamma chechi's daughter in a film, it is somthing I often think about with gret regret. In Malayalam cinema, Ponnamma chechi is like a mother. Very few actors have not portrayed her children on screen, and I am one of them. In cinema, Ponnamma chechi is like the mother I never had," said Manju Warrier.
"That's why I don't have any memories of us being together." However, Manju said that she had always experienced maternal affection whenever she met Kaviyoor Ponnamma off-screen. "I acted alongside her sister, Kaviyoor Renuka chechi, in the film 'Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu'. From certain angles, Renuka chechi resembles Ponnamma chechi. During the shooting, I felt like Ponnamma chechi was right before me," Manju remembered.
"Right from my childhood, I've only ever seen Ponnamma chechi as a mother in films. To make everyone watching yearn for a mother like her—that's the beauty of Ponnamma chechi's acting. Whenever I saw her, it felt like someone stepped onto the screen straight from our courtyard, kitchen, or prayer room," Manju said.
"Her style was so natural; it wasn't acting, it was the demeanour of a mother. With Ponnamma chechi's passing, the last link in the lineage of such mothers is also gone. Sukumari amma, Meena chechi, Srividya amma, KPAC Lalitha chechi—all the mothers we loved from yesteryear have departed. When mothers leave, children become orphans. Malayalam cinema is experiencing that very same orphanhood at this moment."
