A screen grab from a ’90s Malayalam film is currently being circulated on social media. It’s a veritable slice of nostalgia for an ’80s kid. Some of the finest and most loved character actors occupy that frame (Innocent, Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Karamana Janardhanan, Mamukkoya). And till last week, Mamukkoya was the last man standing.
With the actor’s death, the once-happy picture evokes an overwhelming sense of gloom. This a testimony to a bygone golden era when it was unthinkable to visualise a Malayalam cinema without these superfine actors.
If RK Laxman cartooned a Malayalee version of a common man, he would resemble Mamukkoya. Coincidentally, some of the most popular meme stickers feature the actor.
Mamukkoya spoke in his distinct Mappilai slang in every film, irrespective of the character’s geography or faith. So even when he played Kunji Kader or a Tamilian immigrant, his dialect or style or mannerisms never differed. But the otherwise sceptical Malayalee made an exception for this actor as they did for Innocent’s pronounced Thrissur slang and mannerisms that hung on him in every film.
Mamukkoya was a quintessential Everyman on screen — he could be a grocer, a car mechanic, a photographer, a constable, a politician, or even a petty thief and he was as believable and endearing. That he played every role retaining his ‘Mamukkoyaisms’ never mattered to his legion of fans. Just having him around on the screen was comforting.
It is, of course, impossible to pick just a few characters from the 450-odd ones he has done in the last four decades. So, we went for the safest option — picking a few of our favourites.
Though it does help that Dasan and Vijayan are gullible, it is also true that Gafoor in Sathyan Anthikad’s Nadodikattu (1987) is really able to sell himself as this guy who promises to get them to Dubai on a boat. “Just tell them you are ‘Gafoor ka Dost’ he tells them, and it became a modern-day meme for fraud and illegal transport.
You can find a more animated variation of Gafoor in Mazhavilkavadi’s (1989) Kunji Kader. Both are small-time fraudsters. Kader claims to run a leather factory back home but, in reality, is a pickpocket in Pazhani. The scene where the film’s hero discovers his ‘friend’ Kader in jail, grinning from ear to ear, is also a much popular meme that is used depending on the situation.
But the small-time thug Keeleri Achu in Kankettu (1991) is a Shikari Shambu-esque character. He carries a knife around and people are terrified of him. Keeleri carries that charade till the hero (played by Jayaram) challenges him for a duel. That’s when we know that he gets jailed for an accidental murder and decides to use the situation to his benefit when he realises that people fear him. The scene that has Jayaram daring him to a duel and Keeleri smartly pulling him on his side is Mamukkoya at his funniest.
Mumbai-based moneylender Kareem Bhai in Kamal’s Shubhayathra (1990) has two burly men accompanying him everywhere. Kareem Bhai, like Keeleri, can’t hurt a fly but gets work done thanks to his boys who guard him fiercely.
Though there is no likeness, his Jamal in His Highness Abdulla (1990) is also based in Mumbai and does odd jobs to make ends meet. When Sreenivasan’s Ravi Varma is on the lookout for a henchman to kill his uncle, it is Jamal who convinces Sreenivasan to hire Abdullah (Mohanlal) though Jamal knows that his friend is incapable of killing anyone. Mamukoya does these misleadingly deceitful characters with a casualness that makes it easier to empathize with him.
If Hamsa Koya in Ramji Rao Speaking (1989) is desperately hounding Balakrishnan to get back the money he borrowed so that he can conduct his daughter’s wedding, Beeran in Chandralekha (1997) is miserly and treats his nephew shabbily. Both are treated with underlying humour, but Koya’s plight invites your sympathy, unlike Beeran who is greedy.
Then there are those cameos that vacillate between cute and funny. Fraudster cook Ahmed Kutty in Kouthuka Varthakal (1990) who can’t cook to save his life, the good-natured home cook in Sasneham (1990), and the ‘cool’ photographer in Vadakkunokkiyanthram (1989), for instance.
The best Mamukkoya celluloid memory has to be an exasperated Kunjananthan Mestri giving driving lessons to Sukumaran (Sreenivasan) in Thalayana Manthram (1990). When Sukumaran is unable to follow the instructions that’s when Mestri throws a fit, prompting Sukumaran to remind him that he has learnt polytechnic, so he understands vehicles. Sure enough, Mestri uses that very line against him on another occasion. Then there is that scene where he slaps Daniel (Innocent) for being a busybody.
Constable Unni Nair in Kalikkalam (1990) is greedy and funny but then he means no harm and Mamukkoya is effortless. So is Raghavan Nair who helps Ayyappan Nair find an elephant in Gajakesariyogam (1990). While KG Poduval, the wily politician in Sandesam (1991) is tiresome and his confusion when Yashwant Sahai (Innocent) asks for ‘Nariyal Pani’ is gold.
Not that Mamukkoya has only dabbled in comedy. There have been solid character roles as well. There is a deep, warm bond between Karim Ikka and Ummar in Ustad Hotel (2012). Ummar has been with Karim Ikka for years and is, perhaps, the only one who can make fun of him. It’s a very lived-in performance.
The old father who stands by her daughter during her time of distress in Perumazhakkalam (2004) and the secular and dispassionate Moosa who showers profanities in Kuruthi (2021) were memorable outings from the actor.
Mamukkoya will remain an indelible presence in the glorious history of Malayalam cinema. He was that celluloid Everyman who was loved unconditionally by Malayalee cinephiles.
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