THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The name Siddharth Lama won’t ring a bell. But ‘Akkosotto’ of course would. It is hard to believe that 19 years have passed since the release of ‘Yodha’, one of the most popular Malayalam movies ever.
Mohanlal is still a superstar, the film is even now viewed often and its songs are evergreen. But when Siddharth stands before you as a 27-year-old man, you realise the passage of time. Siddharth is back, to act in another Malayalam movie. This time, the cute ‘Rimpoche’ plays a monk in the film ‘Edavappathi: No Man’s Land’, directed by Lenin Rajendran. Siddharth was in the city on Tuesday for the promotion of the movie.
Siddharth’s comeback to Malayalam was quite accidental. Four months ago, a Malayali teacher, Santhosh Kumar, reached Nepal on deputation. An ardent film fan, he visited the locations of ‘Yodha’ and finally managed to locate Siddharth, the boy who played Rimpoche in the film.
“I knew that the film had a good run here. But it was a surprise that people still remembered me. You won’t believe it; after Santhosh found me, I got more than 6,000 Facebook friends and the number is still growing,” Siddharth said. “I stood in front of the mirror and said, ‘I am a star!’’’ Siddharth said, laughing.
Soon, he got an invitation from Lenin Rajendran to act in the movie.
In Nepal, Siddharth is the general secretary of D-Care Foundation, an NGO fighting against drugs among youth. He is also member secretary of Nepal’s National Sports Council.
He had acted in a couple of Nepali films after ‘Yodha’. “My father Yubaraj Lama is a film director in Nepal. He played the role of abductor in ‘Yodha,’’’ Siddharth said.
Siddharth completed the first schedule of Lenin Rajendran’s film at Madikeri in Karnataka. Though Siddharth has experience in acting, he said he was a bit nervous on the sets of the Malayalam film. “The language is a major problem. But I can speak some Malayalam like ‘namaskaram’, ‘venam’, ‘venda’ etc. I also remember ‘para’, ‘Ambattan,’’’ he said, smiling.
Siddharth cherishes the memories of shooting for ‘Yodha’. “Mohanlal was a jovial man. He used to tease me. I have seen his movies ‘Company’, ‘Kalapaani’ etc. He is a great actor and I am his fan,” he said.
Siddharth had to shave his head at least 20 times for ‘Yodha’. “Every third day, I had to shave my head. Now, for this movie, I am playing a Buddhist monk. So, I had to trim my long hair,” he said.
‘Edavappathi: No Man’s Land’ is the story of a young Buddhist monk who is in search of his home in Tibet. Manisha Koirala and Uthara Unni play the other characters in the film.