From Castro Vareeth to Cuba Mukundan

KOCHI: When Lal Jose finalised the name 'Cuba Mukundan' for the protagonist in his hit film Arabi Katha, he was yet to give different shades to that character. The prefix `Cuba' was powerful enough to qualify a proletarian ideologue, who had unflinching faith in communism and socialism.
The character, essayed by Sreenivasan, simmered with rage when he saw a bourgeoisie employer trampling over the rights of a worker in a factory in the Gulf.The film was a hard-hitting tale, a Kerala comrade, who prides himself on fiery Communist revolutionaries and Communist nations, battling dissatisfaction within.
B Unnikrishnan conceived another narrative in his film Pramani by pitching characters who were named America and Castro. Mammootty played panchayat president Viswanantha Panicker who was called as America owing to his capitalist inclinations. At the other end was Janardhanan playing a Keralite replica of Fidel Castro with a bushy beard and loose khaki shirt. He was named Castro Vareeth.
Not only Cuba and Castro, several workers' movements in Latin America found mention in political narratives made in Malayalam. Malay alam cinema's courtship of world politics, especially global Leftist movements, was best exemplified in 1991 with the release of Sandesham by Sathyan Anthikad.
The dining room scene in Sandesham, where siblings Prabhakaran and Prakasan fight over Nicaragua and Poland, is still one of the most-loved movie scenes in Malayalam cinema. The feud between two brothers over disparate political ideologies left a sardonic aftertaste and the release of the movie could not have been better timed.
It was 1991, when the K Karunakaran-led UDF came to power replacing the EK Nayanar ministry .“The scene at the dining table was actually done without planning. It was used to show how politicians sometimes rely on world politics, without actually knowing anything about it, to cover up for their follies,“ said Anthikad. It was a stinging tribute to low-rung politicians who guzzle up intellectual texts and glide over world politics, liberally quoting political happenings in remote places, unknown to others.
“The fact that Sreenivasan was a good reader of global developments helped us stage a lively debate that lasted 10 minutes,“ he said. Prabhakaran's terms like undercurrent got translated as celebrated synonyms for failures and it soon struck a chord with a state that was immersed in discussions on Left failure in 1991.
In the film Left Right Left, Murali Gopy etched Roy Joseph, with a dash of communist romanticism. The characters around him call him Che Guevara Roy, a failed, betrayed comrade with a limp and scars. “Che Guevara was the biggest icon of communist movement. In the film, the party followers call Roy Joseph `Che Guevara Roy` since his persona was reflective of this very ideal,“ said Gopy who scripted and played the lead role.