There are films that keep you entertained with laugh-out-loud moments, songs, and dances till the climax, and then out of the blue, it ends on a tragic note. It will be impossible to tell that story without tearing up. That’s how I would like to describe my friendship with Sachi. We first met at Hotel White fort in Ernakulam. Sachi was there for his debut film, ‘Chocolate’. He came to my room with director Shafi. We had food and spoke non-stop. In between a lot of friends came and went. But Sachi spent that night in my room. That was the start of our friendship.
I have travelled with him to so many places. Some were for pleasure, some official and a few were pilgrimage trips. He would call me for the films he scripted. And I would agree without even listening to the story. From ‘Robin Hood’ to ‘Ayyappanum Koshiyum’ that’s how it happened. I would often tell him that one day he would win the National award for Best Director, and I would accompany him to Delhi to receive it.
But I never thought it would be this way. After making sure I was included in the list of Best actors in India, he left us. After all, it isn’t possible to live your life knowing God’s screenplay for us beforehand.
Since the lights of my room would be on till late at night, Sachy would often drop in. Usually, actors are known to be early sleepers. That helps us to get up early for morning shoots. But directors and writers aren’t like that. They would have 100 things to discuss. Since I was a late sleeper, most of these discussions would happen in my room.
These late-night discussions which covered politics and literature were what made us inseparable. He had strong opinions about everything under the sun. And he never shied from expressing it strongly. That would often lead to disagreements and fights. His conflicts were more beautiful than his love. He was very blunt. What you see is what you get. Sometimes his words could hurt us. But the very next moment he would give me a tight bear hug, and all is forgiven. I don’t think he has ever been able to create a character as honest as him.
I would go anywhere Sachi called me. After all more than the destination, it’s the company that makes the journey so beautiful. Mookambika was his favourite destination. He loved to simply go and sit there, doing nothing. If he found a good story, he would immediately call and say—“Come, let’s go to Mookambika.” During the journey, he would just mention the gist of the story. This was done with the intention of gauging our reactions indirectly. It is only much later that we realise that we were the first testing lab for that film. But after that, he would vanish. There would be no phone calls. And he wouldn’t pick up our calls as well. He would only reappear after he created the film’s one-liner. He would somehow come in search of us and narrate the story in detail. Sachy would carefully listen to our feedback. And once again he would disappear. Then it would be time to finish his screenplay. None of us would disturb Sachy then. We knew that his scripts had the capacity to rewrite the horoscope of many people. He would once again rush to Mookambika and come back with the script blessed by the Mookambika deity. This was more or less his life in cinema.
It was our friendship that resulted in 'Chettayees' movie. Suresh Krishna, P Sukumar, and Shajun Karyal were all part of our gang. We took a flat in Ernakulam to work for the film and it became our usual hangout.
For us, he was always a great source of strength. I had always noticed a big gold chain around his neck. But sometimes it wouldn’t be there. He might have pledged or sold it. But it wasn’t always for personal purposes. He was someone who would understand the financial difficulty of his friends and transfer money to their accounts. And they wouldn’t have even asked him. Sachy would tell them to return it only if they can. Our fights were always about his irresponsible monetary handling. This despite knowing that it was impossible to win an argument with him.
When he first narrated the story of ‘Ayyappanum Koshyum’ I was also there. Mammootty was initially supposed to do the role of Ayyappan Nair. He asked me if I can do Koshy’s role. I immediately nodded. After coming back from a short journey, he asked me to play the role of Ayyappan Nair. That’s how Prithviraj came into the story. He was also very close to Raju. While reading the script we knew that those characters were brilliant.
Though we were fighting in front of the camera, Sachi was having another battle of his own behind the camera. He was unable to stand properly due to searing leg pain. He went through immense pain and difficulties till the end of the shoot.
Was Sachy’s life an open book? Yes, we could tell him anything. And vice versa. But we have always felt that he had kept a lot of personal traumas to himself. He used to deal with it all without telling anyone. He would forbid us from asking certain questions. Though he made sure he would fix his friend's problems, he was someone who never wanted to misuse friendship for personal gains. He always told me to do a film only if I liked his story. That day when he went for the surgery I thought he would recover and come back to us in fine health. He also said the same thing. But everything just went out of hand. Like a film that ended during the interval.
