KOZHIKODE: Who can forget the road roller in the 1988 Malayalam flick Vellanakalude Nadu? The comedy scenes involving Mohanlal, who played the role of a PWD contractor, and the late Kuthiravattom Pappu, as the operator, had stood out in the Priyadarshan-directed movie.The 1983-made PWD-owned machine was in the thick of things yet again on Tuesday as it was auctioned. N M Salih, a PWD contractor, has bought it by spending `1.99 lakh. Interestingly, the Thiruvannur native was not aware of the celebrity status of the machine, which has been lying idle in a corner of the PWD’s south-section office premises since 2016.
“I’ve three road rollers already. I shelled out Rs 19,000 extra to win the auction for this machine because its parts, compared to that of the new models, are of superior quality. I can replace the parts when the other three machines develop complaints,” said Salih.C T Prasad, an assistant engineer with the PWD office, said the road roller was manufactured by Kolkata-based Jessop & Company Limited.
“The machine was used for hundreds of road works over the last four decades. As many as 10 contractors took part in the auction, but none of them was aware of its film connection,” said Prasad.Salih is not ruling out the chances of repairing the machine. If that happens and he checks on the progress of the work, the tongue-in-cheek answer the mechanic could give is Ippo Shariyakki Tharaam. Pappu had made it so famous.