Manimuzhakkam

Manimuzhakkam (lit. 'The Tolling of Bells') is a 1976 Malayalam-language film directed by P. A. Backer and starring Harikeshan Thampi, Veeran, Johnson, Sankaradi, Saritha, Urmila, Vani, cyril P Jacob, Charulatha, Santhakumari, Sreenivasan and Meena Ganesh. This is the debut film of Sreenivasan.^[1][2] The film was scripted by Backer based on the novel Murippaadukal by Sarah Thomas.^[3] It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. The film also won the Kerala state awards for best film, best screenplay (P.A. Backer), and best black & white cinematography (Vipin Das).^[4]

Manimuzhakkam
Directed by	P. A. Backer
Written by	P. A. Backer (screenplay) Sarah Thomas (story & dialogues)
Produced by	Cartoonist Thomas
Starring	Harikeshan Thampi Sreenivasan Cyril P Jacob
Cinematography	Vipindas
Edited by	Ravi Kiran
Music by	Devarajan
Release date	30 April 1976 (1976-04-30)
Country	India
Language	Malayalam

The film was shot in black-and-white even though colour films were common during those times (colour cinema became popular in Malayalam cinema only from 1978 to 1980 and good-quality colour films started being shot frequently only from 1983 to 1985).

Cast

• Harikeshan Thampi as Jose Paul
• Veeran
• Cyril P Jacob
• Johnson
• Sankaradi
• Saritha
• Urmila
• Vani
• Charulatha
• Sreenivasan as vayaran Michael
• Santhakumari
• Meena Ganesh
• Immatty
• Beatrice
• Ponjikkara Kalyani Amma

Trivia

Initially, director Backer had Mammootty in mind for the role of Michael, but it eventually went to Sreenivasan^[5].