Mammukoya's acting prowess will be in full display in 'Malabar': Film's director

Mamukkoya’s life, on and off the screen, has always been inspirational. Apart from pursuing his passion for acting, the veteran actor, was also a well-known football enthusiast. His passion for football landed him the lead role in debutant director Dheeraj’s film ‘Malabar’, which is expected to hit theatres this year.

Though the actor’s sudden demise has left the filmmakers in the lurch, they are confident they will be able to release the film, despite the odds. The director says 75 per cent of the film shoot has been completed. “Mamukkoya's character is a 71-year-old football coach. This is his first full-fledged role in a Malayalam movie. Thankfully, we were able to shoot the majority of his scenes by the end of last year. However, since he had some health issues, we had to postpone the shoot of the climax scene. His sudden demise had left us shocked,” said Dheeraj Bala.

Dheeraj says he had approached the actor nine years ago when he decided to helm the movie. “Though Mamukkoya worked in over 400 movies, in a career spanning five-decades, he never really got the opportunity to act as a lead actor. Even when we first decided to do the film with him in the lead, we faced a lot of difficulties in getting a producer. However, Covid changed everyone’s views about filmmaking. OTT releases like ‘Home’ gave comedy actors like Indrans huge visibility. This renewed our hopes and we decided to go ahead with the film,” said Dheeraj, adding that the actor was very excited about the movie.

“He would constantly enquire about the film’s progress. Though he appeared a little frail during the shoot, he would become a different man in front of the camera. As I didn’t want to hassle him, I would tell him he could say his lines softly. He would turn a deaf ear to my suggestions and deliver the dialogues with zeal, saying that a football coach would never be frail,” he said.

According to Dheeraj ‘Malabar’ will be a tribute to the veteran actor. “After his demise, many said that filmmakers didn’t explore Mamukkoya’s acting prowess to its fullest extent. We wanted to change that when he was alive. We aimed to tell the world that Mamukkoya could carry a film on his own, though we regret we were not able to bring this out earlier. ‘Malabar’ is a tribute to him and what he represented,” he said.

He added that the team is mulling some changes in the final scenes. “There were some special moments towards the climax, which we can’t add due to Mamukkoya’s demise. So, we plan to make some few alterations in the script,” he said. He added that discussions are on regarding the changes that can be incorporated into the film.