« Back to article

Print this article

Celluloid: Story of J C Daniel releases today

Prithviraj plays the lead in Kamal's Celluloid, which releases today, February 15.

The film narrates the story of J C Daniel, who made the first film in Malayalam and is regarded as the father of Malayalam cinema.

J C Daniel made Vigathakumaran (The Lost Child)in 1928.  

It was a silent movie and featured an ordinary worker, named P K Rosy. Orthodox groups opposed the film and Rosy had to flee from her native place to save her life. Malayalam cinema's first heroine lived in anonymity thereafter.

Daniel lost all his investments and struggled for a while. He studied dentistry later on and his life flourished once again after he became accepted as a good dentist.

When he tried to return to films, he lost all his earnings. He was not given his due during his lifetime and he died in poverty in 1975.

Prithviraj's Celluloid releases today

Prithviraj plays J C Daniel, while Mamta Mohandas is his wife Janet and Chandni is P K Rosy. Sreenivasan is doing the role of journalist Chelangad Gopalakrishnan, who researched Daniel's life.

"I am surprised that no one has attempted to make a biopic on the great man's life. He is the reason why we are in the theatres now. It is easily the greatest tragic story in Malayalam cinema," says Prithviraj.

He says that it is a great feeling for him as an actor, to travel through the lifetime of the filmmaker. He is also playing his youngest son, Harris Daniel, who revealed later on that he had destroyed the film can that had stored Vigathakumaran, by mistake.

Kamal, one of the finest filmmakers in Malayalam, has written the screenplay and dialogues based on Vinu Abraham's book titled Nashta Naayika.  

Venu is the cinematographer and M Jayachandran is the music director.