Lekhayude Maranam: Oru Flashback

This is a tragic Malayalam film based on life of actress Shoba (screen name) who sparkled in her brief career only to commit suicide at a young age of 18.

The film has Bharat Gopi and Mammootty playing key roles - those of Balu Mahendra and Prem Nazir respectively.

The film gives an honest view - gritty but being careful not to get sleazy and miss the point - of the compromises young talented women had to make in order to even achieve their well deserved success in the male dominated film industry. Shoba's story was no different. Her mother - even though a veteran supporting actor herself - couldn't ease her way, and instead chose to stay a mute spectator to what her experience showed her to be the only way to get her daughter towards success.

It was a spiral downwards - especially given the daughter's youth and lack of experience - is what the mother missed, in the end costing her daughter's life. The mother herself died of heartbreak a year later in real life..

Watch this to get a perspective of the other side of tinsel town .