Kalabhavan Mani during a medical checkup organised by him at Chalakkudy. Photo: ManoramaKalabhavan Mani was a person full of unusual energy and a skilled artiste. Was this good man someone who had to die so early due to liver disease, which no one knew about? Was he someone who had to die mysteriously? We can only think philosophically that his time was over and death was inevitable.
Actor Kalabhavan Mani, who passed away on March 6, 2016, was a caring human being away from stage or camera and even after a year, his death is still a mystery.
His art had its roots in his childhood, which experienced the bitterness of poverty. And he never wanted to forget it. Perhaps that was the reason why Mani could always empathize with the poor and the downtrodden. Even when he was at the heights of his glory, Mani was that Chalakkudy-native to the core. He never missed a chance to work for the well-being of the people of his native land.
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In 2009, he offered a bus to Govt Girls High School, Chalakkudy. In 2011, Mani found time to celebrate Onam with over 1,000 Adivasis at Athirappilly. He served them with a delicious feast and gifted them with clothes.
A year ago, he had celebrated the festival with the inmates of the Viyyur Central Jail upon the request by a social workers' group. He sang, acted and danced with the jailbirds.
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The same year, Mani was made the ambassador of the Athulyam project, an initiative of the Kerala State Literacy Mission in collaboration with Manorama. Mani, who never missed a chance to crack jokes at the hard face of realities, then said it was an honor for a person like him to be the ambassador of the project since he had painted graffiti for the Literacy Mission in his youthfulness to make a living.
Mani was sad, if not angry, to read a report published in Manorama on the untidy state of Chalakkudy market in 2011. Straight back home after a hectic schedule in Chennai, Mani pressed himself into action to clean the market along with his gang of friends.
Parents were Mani's greatest obsession. And the love for his mother made him look at every elder woman as his own mother. Hence, while spending time with the elderly people of an old age home in Thrissur, he said it was more worthy than winning a national award.
