The name Aswathy Mathen may not ring a bell in today’s Malayalam cinema. But her name certainly deserves to be written in bold letters in its annals. Nearly five decades ago Aswathy set the industry agog by becoming the first woman scriptwriter in the language. And 2014, this year, marks the Golden Jubilee of the film for which Aswathy first wrote the script.

The film Manavatti was produced by her husband Raju Mathen for Thankam Films and released in 1964. Aswathy scripted a story with a Christian background thereby marking the beginning of a new era in women’s writing. In fact, Aswathy wrote this story much before Malayalam literature had such definite gender divisions. Before Aswathy came into the scene women in Malayalam films were limited to actors alone.

Born on October 18, 1930, in Kalloopparambil family at Pallom, near Kottayam, Aswathy completed her schooling at Balika Madom, Thiruvalla, and her higher studies at Women’s Christian College, Madras. She met Raju Mathen, son of C.P. Mathen a Quilon-based Industrialist, who was then studying at Loyola College, Madras. Their frequent visits blossomed into love and they got married on May 3, 1951.

Aswathy spent the early years of her marriage with her husband in Quilon. She was a typical homemaker involved in gardening, cooking and reading. She also assisted her husband in his bus service business.

In 1963, Raju Mathen decided to produce a movie. His decision had the strong backing of Aswathy. Both of them shifted to Madras as part of their new project. And when Aswathy expressed her desire to write the story and script Raju supported her to the hilt.

K. S. Sethumadhavan, the director of Manavatti, and noted dramatist K.T. Muhammed, gave her valuable help and Aswathy completed the script well within the time given to her. Manavatti was a box office hit. The songs from this film are still fresh and alive. Written by Vayalar Rama Varma and set to music by G. Devarajan the film had immortal songs like Idaya kanyake povka nee… andAshtamudikkayalile annanada thoniyile… These and the other songs contributed hugely to the film’s success. The film had top stars like

Sathyan, Ragini, K.R.Vijaya (her debut Malayalam film), Aranmula Ponnamma, Adoor Pankajam, Madhu, S. P. Pillai, Bahadur, Baby Vinodini, Bharathi, Gopinath (Suresh Gopi’s father) and others.

The thumping victory of Manavatti inspired Thankam Movies to produce four more films. But Aswathy did not write the story or script for any of these. One reason for this was that Aswathy disapproved of any changes in her stories. The other reason was that Aswathy, who was also well known for her original recipes, had started her own condiments business. She wrote a cookery book titled Ente Tharavadu Pachakom. Aswathy had two children, Thankam and Ashok Mammen. She died on July 4, 2007, while convalescing after a surgery.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Kochi / by Saju Chelangad / November 02nd, 2014