Legendary Malayalam actor Mammootty celebrates his 75th birthday today. Interestingly, the actor with more than 400 films across Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, and, of course, Oxonian English, made his first celluloid appearance in a 1971 Malayalam film, where he had no dialogue at all.
It was K. S. Sethumadhavan’s film "Anubhavangal Paalichakal" in which he acted as an uncredited junior artist. The shoot for the film happened in Kerala, an outdoor shoot. Many people had gathered around the set. A young man, probably in his early 20s, emerged from the crowd and asked director Sethumadhavan for a chance in his movie.
In an interview with a popular media outlet, the director said that he asked for the young man’s name, and he replied, “Mammootty”. He was also surprised to learn that Mammootty was a lawyer by profession. The young man told him that he was interested in acting, and therefore the director decided to give him a chance as a junior artist.
The director asked his associates to run a shot, and Mammootty did well. In the film, his character doesn’t have a name: He is shown as an onlooker in a crowd, a young man with a thin moustache.
A few years ago, Mammootty shared a picture on social media, which was apparently a scene from this movie. He wrote, “Big thanks to the person who did this. This is a screengrab from my first ever appearance on celluloid. Colour corrected from black and white.”
The film was scripted by Thoppil Bhasi, based on a novel written by the renowned Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It starred the evergreen on-screen pair of Sathyan and Sheela in lead roles, alongside veteran actors Prem Nazeer and KPAC Lalitha. This film was also Sathyan’s last, with the actor passing away before the end of the shoot.
Mammooty recalled that the picture he shared brought back vivid memories of his youth. He said, “I had the rare privilege to be in the same film as Sathyan master. In fact, I remember touching his feet once when he was asleep, resting between shots.”
The megastar's first credited role came in 1980, in the film "Vilkkanundu Swapnangal" directed by M. Azad and written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair.
