Almost her entire acting career, Ponnamma appeared as a typical Malayali mother – with a sandal paste mark on her forehead, holy basil leaf on grey hair, attired in the traditional white ‘mundu’ and ‘neriyathu’ and reciting prayers for her children on verandah of the house. However, before she was typecast in this role, Ponnamma had enacted diverse characters during the early phase of her career in theatre and movies. In fact, she had excelled in such roles too.
Ponnamma was also keen to take up roles of different shades, such as the comedy character Dolly Lakshmi with Adoor Bhasi in ‘Atom Bomb’ (1969). Similarly, she was the villainess in Vincent’s ‘Triveni’.
At the start of her acting career, Ponnamma earned appreciation as the lead actress in dramas such as ‘Altaara’, ‘Doctor’, ‘Janani Janmabhumi’ and ‘Puthiya Akasam Puthiya Bhoomi’.
Moreover, all leading directors of her time utilized Ponnamma’s talent and they included P N Menon, M T Vasudevan Nair, Vincent, Sethumadhavan, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Ramu Kariat, John Abraham, Padmarajan and Mohan.
Among Ponnamma’s major offbeat roles in movies, the following stood out: the rough character Tharathi who leads a difficult life in a brick kiln in the movie ‘Karakanakadal’; Kadathukadavil Parvathy, a coir worker who wears colourful blouses and glass bangles in ‘Triveni’; Communist activist Pattalam Bhavani in ‘Crossbelt’; Savithri Varasyar in ‘Nellu’; Kamalamma in ‘Kodiyettam’; Lakshmi in ‘Avalude Raavukal’; and Eliyamma in ‘Cheriyachante Kroorakrithyangal’.
Other films which revealed Ponnamma’s minute attention to detail while bringing her character to life included MT’s ‘Asuravithu’ (1968) where she appeared as Kunhoppol and ‘Velutha Kathreena’, in which she was seen as Martha Pulayi. The latter was among Ponnamma’s very rare roles as a woman belonging to the lower strata of society. However, she was brilliant as the village woman who often spat on the ground, walked moving her arms around and spoke in a dramatic manner.
Ponnamma won the Kerala State Award for the best supporting actress on four occasions – in 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1994. In 1972, the award was for the movie ‘Theerthayatra’ and in 1994 for ‘Thenmavin Kombathu’. In 1971 and 1973, she was selected for the award for her performance in several films.