One day, in 2010, Mollywood cinematographer Jomon T John had gone to the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet at the Gold Souk mall at Kochi. While standing in the queue, he noticed a girl standing in another line, wearing a salwar kameez. He realised that it was the actor Ann Augustine. “I did not know her personally, but I had seen her in a few interviews on TV,” says Jomon.
Later when Jomon was speaking to director V K Prakash’s assistant, Mridul, on the phone, Ann was in the director’s office at Bangalore. She took the phone from Mridul and congratulated Jomon on his work in Prakash’s film, Beautiful.
A few months later, actor Jayasurya was doing a music video which was to be directed by Prakash. The director asked Jomon to do the cinematography. Ann was playing the heroine.
During the shoot, there was a sudden need to get a costume for Jayasurya. So Jomon drove the car, and Jayasurya sat beside him, while Ann was at the back, along with a couple of assistants. “I felt a vibe from Ann,” says Jomon. “Later, she told me that she also got some vibes from me.”
At night, there was a shoot of a candlelight dinner. “Even as I was working, I could sense a connection with her,” says Jomon.
After the shoot Jomon and Ann, along with a couple of colleagues, went to the coffee shop at the new airport at Bangalore. They spoke the entire night. “When I looked at the watch, I realised I had to hurry, because I had to catch a 6 am flight to Kochi,” says Jomon. So they returned to the hotel, where Jomon collected his luggage and sped to the airport. At the entrance, he quickly noted Ann’s number and rushed inside.
And then he got a shock. He had missed his flight. So he hung around, organising a seat on the next flight, which was three hours away. By the time he came out, 20 minutes had passed. And Jomon received his second shock. Ann was still standing in the same position, staring into the distance. “Later she told me that her mind had gone blank,” says Jomon. “She could not understand her feelings.”
That was when they both made an astonishing decision: they decided to tie the knot. “There was no logic in it,” says Jomon. “Nobody proposed. We just felt we should get married.”
A week after Jomon returned to Kochi, he called up Ann’s mother, Hancy. “I told her that I wanted to get married to her daughter,” says Jomon. “She started laughing and asked me how long I had known Ann. ‘Six days,’ I said. And she began laughing some more. Hancy asked me to wait and see whether after some time, I was still keen to get married.”
Thereafter, for the next six months, Jomon and Ann went out for dates, saw films, spent time with friends, and on a few occasions, Ann was with Jomon on his location shoots. Their mutual liking remained strong.
So, on February 9, 2013, the engagement took place, but it took one year for them to get married because both were busy with various film projects. The couple also had some misgivings, because Ann’s father, the actor Augustine, had passed away on November 14, but in the end they decided to go ahead.
At the wedding, a few of Jomon’s classmates, at St Michael’s College, Cherthala, who became priests - Fr Sebastian, Fr Santhosh, Fr Celestine and Fr Jose - assisted at the mass held, on February 2, at the St Sebastian church.
Immediately after the marriage, the couple went to Shopian in Kashmir where Jomon was doing camera work for Major Ravi’s Picket 43. “The temperature was minus 13 degrees,” says Jomon. “We could not go out because it was risky. We had to take military protection all the time.”
Interestingly, nothing happened regarding the music video. It remained unedited and has never been released. Recently, when Jayasurya met Jomon, he said, “The only reason why we did the video was so that you could meet Ann. It was destiny at work.”
Meanwhile, when asked about her qualities, Jomon says, “Ann is a transparent person. She tells me what is on her mind. She is also positive-minded. It is I who gets upset over a lot of things. She tries to solve my problems and helps me make the right decisions.”
As for tips for other youngsters who plan to get married, Jomon says, “A woman is different from a man. They think differently and have a different psychology. Both husband and wife come from contrasting family backgrounds. So, it is important to learn to adjust. Every spouse should read, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus [by John Gray].”