Remembering Vindhyan

He was a man of positiveenergy who believed that friendship could be one’s greatest strength. Hisfriends too remember him as a colorful and jovial man who put them at ease,merely by his presence.

Vindhyan, who passed away a few days agowas not just a film producer to them, but a dear friend. “After a few years ofnot being in touch, we met through a humorous episode,” recollectsShyamaprasad, his batchmate at the School of Drama (SoD) Thrissur. “I remembercalling him after watching an interview of his on Doordarshan where hementioned that he wouldn’t do films with any of his friends or batchmates eventhough they were talented artists. I introduced myself as somebody he wouldn’t makea film with. But he recognised me from my voice and said amidst laughter thathe didn’t intend me. Thus began the second phase of our friendship,”Shyamaprasad says about his friend who later produced three of his films.

His friends remember him as a pleasant andenergetic man, during their three decade long camaraderie. “He christened meBalettan,” says actor and filmmaker P Balchandran, another batchmate at SoD.

Incidentally, all three friends werepart of the first batch of SoD.

“Though we were of the same age andsenior to others, including Shyamaprasad, Vindhyan was more youthful andcheerful among the batch of 15. Vindhyan called me Balettan which was usedlater by almost everyone who met me,” he said.

The first visual the filmmaker friends associatewith the student days of Vindhyan is the black Ambassador car which he used todrive into the SoD campus.
“The car was a luxury for the students at SoD and in fact, he fed many of us onmany days,” says Balachandran. “He cared for me during my student days as I wasone of the juniors and would give me rides in his car with other batchmates. Thoughhe studied acting, he was scared when I offered him the role of the lodge ownerin ‘Off season’ in ‘Kerala Cafe’”, recollects Shyamaprasad.

“He had a clear vision about the filmsthat he wanted to make and always preferred to produce decent films which peoplecould watch. Though he wanted his films to do well at the box-office, he wasnot willi n g to make too many commercial com- promises,” added Balachandran “Hehad a nice bond with Padmarajan and we remember him showing the still photographsof films like ‘Oridathoru Phayalwan’ and ‘Kallan Pavithran’. He had plannedsome projects with Padmarajan, which did not materialise,” remembersSyamaprasad.

His repertoire include films like ‘SaliniEnte Koottukari’ which he produced at the age of 19 to ‘Arike’ which released afew months ago, Vindhyan was planning his fourth film with Shyamaprasad, titled‘Taxi’.