What comes to people's mind when they hear of Kaviyoor Ponnamma is a comforting mother, dressed mostly in white saree. Few in this generation know that she has in fact acted as the mother of Satyan and Madhu, many decades back. The movie was `Thommande Makkal'.
Ms. Ponnamma was born in Kaviyoor near Tiruvalla. As a five-year-old, she learnt music and used to sing in stage shows. But she did not see many movies. She started acting in dramas when she was 14 years, starting off with `Mooladhanam' of Thoppil Bhasi. After five years, came her first movie Kudumbini, in which she did the title role of the mother of two kids.
She has acted with Prem Nazir, Satyan, Madhu, Soman, Sukumaran, Vincent, Raghavan, Mohanlal, Mamootty, Dileep and even Prithviraj.
She is one actress who has seen Malayalam cinema's metamorphosis through decades.Having stayed at Chennai for 37 years, Ms. Ponnamma is now settled in Aluva. Her husband M.K. Mani was a film producer. Their daughter is now in Chennai and son-in-law a professor at the Michigan University.
