The scene has close resemblance to the one in the hit movie ‘Katha Parayumbol’ in which actor Sreenivasan essayed the role of Balan, a barber who was also the childhood friend of Mammootty, who portrayed Ashok Raj, a superstar.
The Flashback...
The year was 1989. A Fiat car stopped before a shop called ‘Hema hairdressers’ at Giri Nagar and the elderly driver stepped out. There was nothing conspicuous about the entire scenario. The driver went inside the shop and asked for the owner. The driver wanted the owner N K Babu to accompany him to a house located nearby to give the owner’s child a haircut. Babu didn’t hesitate and asked for extra payment, to which the driver promptly agreed. Little did Babu know that he was going to give a hair cut to the person who was going to be the heartthrob of Malayalam cinema in the future.
Surprises came in instalment for Babu that day. The first one was when the old man introduced himself as Angachami, superstar Mammootty’s driver. “I sat in the car, shell-shocked! We were going to Surumi Manzil! Mammotty’s house in Giri Nagar. And I was to give his six-year-old son Shalu a hair cut,” recounts Babu.
“People may not know him by this name. Shalu is none other than Dulquer Salman, the heartthrob of the youth today,” says a proud Babu.
“When we reached the house, Sulfath, Mammotty’s wife, was waiting for us. She directed me upstairs where I was to give the boy the haircut,” says Babu. “I did my job and came back home. It was nearly a year later that I was summoned again,” he adds.
“Those days I used to experiment with mimicry and this helped me to develop a rapport with Dulquer and his sister Surumi,” he recounts. They were studying in Toc H at that time.
“In fact, I used imitate Mammootty and Mohanlal. However, my greatest desire never got realised. I wanted to meet Mammootty!” he sighs.
Soon after Mammotty and his family shifted to Chennai.
The present...
Babu’s eyes sparkled with joy while talking about young Shalu. Like Balan in the film, Babu too wishes to meet Dulquer. He hopes that when Dulquer comes across this story, the star will remember those days and will try to reach out to him.
A personal note
“I went to Dubai after completing a beautician course,” says Babu. “But it was a hard cheese for me and I returned after ten years. Now I have settled down at Fort Kochi,” he adds.
Babu,now, has taken up bridal makeup as his profession. “My plan was to enter Mollywood as a makeup man. I believed that my friendship with actor Baiju Ezhupunna will help me in securing a foothold. But luck didn’t favour me,” said Babu, who owns ‘Town Beauty Salon’ at Valanjambalam.
He has not accepted defeat and still believes that his Mollywood dreams are not dead. “If I am able to get a foothold in Mollywood maybe I will get to meet Shalu again. I may then get to do Shalu’s makeup,” Babu says with his fingers crossed.