Nedumudi Venu taught Ooty-educated Pratap the nuances of Malayalam

Film personality Pratap Pothen and the late actor Nedumudi Venu shared a deep bond which began during the days when legendary director Bharathan dominated the Malayalam movie scene with films such as ‘Thakara’, ‘Chamaram’, ‘Lorry’ and ‘Aaravam’.

Both Venu and Pratap, who passed away on Friday, honed their talents under the watchful eye of Bharathan. In fact, Pratap had no dream to become an actor. Instead, he wished to be known as a director. Pratap’s look also did not suit an actor. With long hair, spectacles and hippie style, nobody asked him whether he could act.

However, Nedumudi Venu developed the style for Pratap’s character in ‘Thakara’ who shouts “kappe…kappe.” Pratap’s style in the movie became a rage and people emulated it at many places.

It was Venu again who taught Ooty-educated Pratap, who spoke convent English and had little command over Malayalam, the various dialects and nuances of the regional language.

Incidentally, when veteran writer M T Vasudevan Nair handed over the script of the film ‘Ritubhedam’ to Pratap, he rushed to Venu with it. Venu read the script and asked Pratap, “You don’t even know Malayalam properly and MT’s story deals with the life of the Nair community in Valluvanad. Will you be able to do justice to the script without having an idea about their circumstances and Malayalam slang?”

But after ‘Ritubhedam’ was released, Venu was the first person to call Pratap. “It is a beautiful film. You have done a good job,” Venu told Pratap.

Later, the script of ‘Oru Yathramozhi’ directed by Pratap was prepared at Venu’s house. Pratap was also amazed over Bharathan’s decision to make him dub for his characters even though his Malayalam was poor.

The walking style of Pratap in ‘Thakara’ by waving his arms was very popular those days. It was devised by Venu and Pratap. Both were pleased that Bharathan did not object to that stylized walk created by them.