THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Mala Aravindan was a humane person who avoided hurting others, says filmmaker K Madhu, who collaborated with the actor in around ten movies.
‘’Though he was senior both in the case of age and film career, he used to maintain a good relationship with me. Our relationship started from the year 1978, while I was working with M Krishnan Nair sir as assistant. He was like an elder brother to me as he dealt with me in such a caring manner,’’ remembers Madhu.
‘’It was in 1986 that I started the works of my debut venture ‘Malarum Kiliyum’ with Mammootty as hero. Mala Chettan was very busy during that time as he used to work in 4-5 movies a day. Though I wasc ertain that he would be busy, I approached him with a role in my movie. Surprisingly he agreed to act in my venture saying that he will definitely join my sets without much more discussions,’’ he says.
Madhu, who is famous for as the director of thriller films, said that Mala had worked in around 10 more movies which he directed. ‘’Though most of my movies are of the thriller genre, he and Jagathy Sreekumar were integral parts of the movies to portray the comic roles,’’ he said.
Donning Villain’s Role
Mala, who was noted for his comic roles as well as some character roles, was first cast as a negative character in a film directed by K Madhu. ‘’I am proud to have introduced him in a villain role through my movie ‘Rahasya Police’in 2009. Until that movie, he usually potrayed comic roles. In fact there was a surfeit of such roles for him. Mala chettan was also fed up with such characters and was waiting for a change. It was then I called him for the villain role for a film having a suspense storyline,’’ he remembers. ‘’I was determined to make a movie with him in a villain character during the production of the ‘Sethurama Iyer CBI’ - the third part of the CBI series.
He had acted as a lottery vendor in that movie with a comic shade but an ally of the villain. He essayed a tremendous performance throughout the movie.
That was the reason behind casting him as the main villain in ‘Rahasya Police’. He was really excited while I called him for that role as it was his first villain role in the career. For that character he bagged the Jaycee award also,’’ Madhu recollects.