Chemmeen is based on a highly acclaimed novel by Gyanpith Award Winner Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. Since its initial publication in Malayalam in 1956, the novel has run into several editions in quick succession, setting an all India record for all time and is perhaps the most well known literary work in Kerala. It has also been translated in various Indian Languages and also in English, Russian, German, Italian, French, Czech, Spanish and Polish among others. Hence when the film was being made, expectations were sky high. The film, needless to say, firmly delivers and has subsequently acquired cult status in the history of Malayalam Cinema besides being the film that put Malayalam Cinema on the National Map as it was the first South Indian film to win the coveted President’s Gold Medal for Best film. Malayalam Cinema has never looked back since.

Chemmeen’s tale is multilayered. On one level while it is a tragic love story of forbidden love. On the other hand it proves that true love recognizes no religious, cultural or geographical boundaries. If the film reaffirms the required commitment to relationships, it also shows how deep, passionate love can both save and destroy man. It tells you how people can change with greed and jealousy and it illustrates the deeply rooted nature of superstition in the Hindu psyche while looking at the life of a typical Kerala fishing community of Allapuzha. While its grandeur flows from the wild and powerful ocean that rules the fishing community, its poetic beauty lies in its depiction of those small moments that can make or mar our lives.

At the core of the film are the three central performances of Sheela, Sathyan and Madhu. The film offers all three of them their career-defining roles with Sheela being known as ‘Chemmeen Sheela’ even today! Needless to say, the trio responds with their career-best performances. Incidentally, Madhu introduced to films through Kariat’s Moodupadam (1963), was one of the ensemble cast in KA Abbas’s Saat Hindustani (1969), Amitabh Bachchan’s debut film. The three are strongly supported by Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair bringing alive the wily and greedy Chembankunju.

Another major strength of the film is its superb musical score by Salil Choudhury. It is said that Choudhury composed the tunes first and then the lyrics were added in. The most well-known number of the film is the haunting - Manasa Maine Varu rendered brilliantly with great pathos by the great Manna Dey. His Hindi and Bengali songs notwithstanding, this is one of Mannada’s best ever songs and he was praised by one and all for his outstanding Malayalam Diction. Of course it helped that he was married to a Malayalee woman, Sulochana! Other songs, all extremely popular, include Pennale Pennale sung by KJ Yesudas and P Leela, Puthan Valakkare by KJ Yesudas, P Leela, KP Udaybhanu and Shantha P Nair (‘inspired’ by Choudhury’s own Baag Mein Kali Khili from Chand aur Suraj (1965)) and Kadalinakkara by KJ Yesudas. In fact, the songs were dubbed into Hindi as well under the collective title Chemmeen Lehren. Chemeen was Salilda’s first film in Malayalam and would lead him to composing music in several more Malayalam films especially in tandem with lyricist Valyalar.

Besides ‘importing’ Choudhury and Dey, the film also has the expertise of Hrishikesh Mukherjee in the Editing Department. Hrishida does speak about how he had to ‘salvage’ what was shot by altering the structure of the film compared to what Kariat had in mind but since it helped the film overall, no one is complaining today! Mention must be made of cinematographer Marcus Bartley’s and U Rajagopal’s evocative cinematography of the sea front with good use of the technicolour format.

Perhaps the high regard for the film particularly in Kerala is best summed up by Malayalee superstar of today, Mohanlal. To quote him…

“It is an exceptional film. I don't think there will be another like it in Malayalam. All those who worked in Chemmeen were so great. I don’t think such a combination has happened again or will happen again.”

Beside the National Award, Chemmeen also won a Certificate of Merit at the Chicago Film Festival and the film was also screened at the 2005 Brisbane International Film Festival as part of a retrospective on 50 years of Malayalam Cinema.