Dennis Joseph had brought together silver screen heavy weights like Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi and Thiagarajan in his directorial debut Manu Uncle. Even when the super hit movie had won a national award, Dennis didn’t go to receive the prestigious award as he had stage fright.
Not many know that Dennis had actually planned to make his directorial debut through another movie called Venmegha Hamsam. However, the movie got stalled midway due to the Gulf War. That movie boasted of a dream casting that Malayalam cinema hadn’t seen until then. Mammootty, Mohanlal, Suresh Gopi, Thiagarajan, Suhasini and Sumalatha were roped in to play pivotal roles in the movie. However, the Gulf War had marred the scope of this film. Dennis had then written Manu Uncle swiftly so that he would still have Mammooty’s dates. The movie became a super hit and had even won a national award.
Malayalam cinema had truly lost a hit maker after the unexpected demise of Dennis Joseph. It was recently that Mammootty had released a memoir written by Dennis Joseph. The writer was even planning to make a comeback into the movies.
