It has been a year since the death of Malayalam’s immortal actor Innocent, who gave a handful of memorable characters to the audience. Last year, Innocent passed away on March 26, giving moviegoers a chance to experience a lifetime. He acted in more than six hundred films. Godfather, Mannar Mathai Speaking, Manichitrathar, Kabuliwala. Innocent gave many characters to Malayali through films like Vietnam Colony, Kilukum, Kakakuyil, Pashupati, Vesham, Devasuram, Ravanaprabhu, Mithunam and many more.
Innocent was an actor who made life a laughing stock. All the characters portrayed by Innocent sought a place in the hearts of the audience when the unique body language, comedy and Thrissur dialect came together.
The strength gained from life experiences was the core of many of Innocent’s characters. Mannar Mathai, KK Joseph, Kittunni, Eenashu, Phuduwal and Swaminathan lighted the theaters for a garland of innocent laughter.
Many of them became personifications of perversity when Innocent transferred the mannerisms used for comic characters to villainous characters. Lazar Mutadali in Keli was one of the most sleazy villains Malayalam cinema has ever seen. Kapyar of Kathod Katoram, Eechappan of Taskaraveeran and Lonappan of Swarnakaduva were marked as personifications of cruelty.
Innocent also played villainous roles sprinkled with humor. Panicker in Pongamutta idunna Thaarau, Shankarankutty Menon in Mazhavilkkavadi and Pattar in Phingami are like that.
It was during his wanderings in Tamil Nadu to buy raw materials for a match company that he became obsessed with cinema, a tycoon named Innocent, and moved to Madras to fulfill his dream of cinema. After working on the set of the film, he made his debut as a journalist in the 1972 release of AB Raj’s Nirtshaala. After the milkman in K Mohan’s ‘Ilakkangal’ and the salesman in ‘Aviduthaepolae ividaeum’, Innocent never had to look back.
