After reading the scene where Mohan (Mammootty) takes on the crew, Martin Prakkat (director) was sure it would win claps in theatre. But, we had doubts whether Mammukka would agree to it as he is against harassing others directly or indirectly. But, he agreed as the response from Mafia Sasi was positive. The word ‘decoration’ came in from the manual workers who used it to describe lazy work.
When the scene was shot in Kochi, I was in a classroom some 120 kilometers away in Idukki district. They rang me as there were confusions regarding the Hindi dialogues which preceded this and they asked for my presence at the location. I had no vehicle and managed to get one from one of my students to reach there.
The Hindi dialogue, a compilation of the by heart portions from class 5 to 10, was inspired from a teacher in my school days. It was fit for the character Mohan who was a teacher. It went well and Mammukka made it in the first take. It was received well in two ways. Those who knew Hindi laughed at it for its nonsensical attitude while those who don’t know the language clapped at it for the strength of the dialogue delivery.
Sasiyettan, when I met recently told me the dialogue helped a lot. It gave a lot of mileage among the family audience, especially women and children who were ignorant of the stunt master.