THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The cricket - cinema get-together on Thursday took the stars down memory lane. Director Ashok Kumar recalled how a bunch of passionate, but realistic, cricketers took to cinema. The story dates back nearly three decades. Every evening, at around 4.30, the ‘club’ fell in at the Pangode ground. The friends included Mohanlal, Priyadarshan and Suresh Kumar.
The group would later jump into the 6.30 bus and head for the Indian Coffee House, where they would meet the ‘real cricketers’ who played for the state team.
Priyan was the opener, Mohanlal fast bowler and hard-hitting batsman, Suresh Kumar middle-order batsman and Ashok Kumar, a former goal-keeper, was wicket-keeper.
“We used to play for fun, the game was our medium of friendship. At the Coffee House, the discussion would turn to cinema. One of those days, we decided to go to the sets of the film my brother (Rajeev Nath) was directing. However, some of the actors teased us as to what we were doing there,’’ Ashok Kumar said.
The young brigade felt slighted. ‘Let’s make a movie’, came the clarion call. The result - ‘Thiranottam’, Mohanlal’s debut.
Ashok Kumar turned director, Priyan helped out with the script and Suresh Kumar assisted in direction. S. Kumar made his debut as cinematographer.
The rest is part of Malayalam cinema history.