Google Doodle Remembers Kerala's First Female Actor PK Rosy

She received hate for playing the role of a Nair woman since she was from a Dalit community.

Chennai: PK Rosy, Malayalam cinema's first female lead actor, adorned the Google doodle on her 120th birthday on Friday. 

PK Rosy was born as Rajamma into a Dalit family on February 10, 1903 in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Rajamma entered acting at a time when society discouraged performing arts, especially among women. Breaking the stereotypes, she continued to act in Malayalam classic Vigathakumaran (The Lost Child). 

In the movie, she played the role of a Nair woman Sarojini. Following this, she started receiving hate for playing the role since she was from a Dalit community. For the opening show of the movie at a theatre in Thiruvananthapuram, even the director of the film Daniel reportedly did not invite her.

The members of the community expressed their outrage by pelting stones during a love scene in the theatre. Later, they also chased her out of state, as per a report on The News Minute. 

During that time, she allegedly fled to Tamil Nadu in a truck and remained in the state for the rest of her life. She also developed a relationship and married a lorry driver Kesavan Pillai, said a report on The Quint. 

Her story came to light after Chengalatt Gopalakrishnan wrote an article about her in 1960. Later, a movie on the life of Daniel was also released in 2013 and the film mentioned about PK Rosy. 

In 2019, Women in Cinema Collective launched a film society to honour the late actress for her contribution to Mollywood. The collective said that the act of naming the society was an attempt to be sensitive and to take note of those excluded from the dominant cinema histories.