COLUMN:
LOCATION DIARY
Actor
Harisree Ashokan talks about his experiences in the films,
'Kudumbakodathi', 'Punjabi House', and 'Satyam, Shivam Sundaram'
Photo of Harisree Ashokan and wife Preetha by Mithun Vinod
By
Shevlin Sebastian
One
day, in the 1990s, Harisree Ashokan was relaxing in a hotel room in
Aluva. This was during the shoot of the film, 'Kudumbakodathi',
directed by Viji Thambi. Suddenly, a call came on the intercom. It
was a young girl, who asked Ashokan whether she could come and see
him tomorrow. He said okay, and told her to come by 11 a.m.
The
next morning, an excited Ashokan sprayed some perfume inside the
room, so that it would smell good. “You must understand this was
the first time this was happening to me,” he says. So, he waited
patiently, having told the director that he would come late to the
set.
A
little after 11 a.m., the doorbell rang. With a sense of
anticipation, Ashokan opened the door. It was a 20-year-old girl,
wearing a red salwar kameez. “I was taken aback by her beauty,”
says Ashokan. “She stared at me with an amazed look. Then I said,
'Are you the girl who called me?' She said, 'Yes'. Then she suddenly
said, 'I am going'.”
Ashokan
felt puzzled. He did not why she left so quickly. “I became
depressed,” he says. After a while, she called him on the phone. “I
had come to see the other Ashokan [who has acted in films like
'Peruvazhiyambalam' and 'In Harihar Nagar'].” When Harisree Ashokan
went to the set, he narrated the incident to the crew members and
everybody had a good laugh.
There
was a time when Ashokan himself had a good laugh. During the shoot of
'Punjabi House' (1998) in Kochi, the Thiruvananthapuram-based comic
actor Indrans was feeling homesick. For three weeks, the shooting had
been going on non-stop. But one day the production controller,
Shanmughan, told Indrans that he did not have any shooting for the
next two days, so he could go home.
Indrans
got very excited. To show his joy, he mock-fisted Ashokan, and said,
“I am going back home tonight.”
Ashokan
took a lift in Indran's car. “He was dropping me home [at
Vazhakalla], before he carried on,” says Ashokan. “Indrans was
eating an orange. He was throwing the peels at the passers-by. I
asked him what he was doing. He said, 'I feel so happy that I am
going home.'”
The
next day, at 7 a.m., Ashokan had a shooting schedule. But when he
went to the set, Indrans was sitting there. “When I saw him, I
burst out laughing,” says Ashokan. “I said, 'What happened?'”
Indrans
said he had nearly reached home, when Shanmughan called and said,
“You have a shoot early morning tomorrow. The other actor is not
available.” Indrans immediately turned back. He did not even go
home. “When I look back, it is a sad incident, but there was
something funny about it,” says Ashokan.
On
another occasion, Ashok and Cochin Haneefa were relaxing on the sets
of 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram' (2000) at the Kakkanad bus stand at
Kochi. Suddenly, a youngster came up and said that he could not fold
his right arm. He said that there is an equipment which when placed
at the elbow would straighten his arm. “Then I will be able to eat
with my hand,” he said.
Both
Ashokan and Haneefa were moved when he said this. Ashokan asked the
price of the equipment. The boy said that it cost Rs 7500, but he had
Rs 2500. So, he needed Rs 5000.
Haneefa
said he would pay. Ashokan said, “No way, I will.” In the end,
they tossed a coin and Ashokan called correctly. He told the
youngster to come to his home the next day.
At 7
a.m., the youth arrived at Ashokan's home. “He showed me the slip
from where the equipment could be bought,” says Ashokan. “I told
him to give me the Rs 2500, and I would buy the equipment for him. He
replied that he would get the money and come back.”
Thereafter,
Ashokan never saw him again. “There are many who try these tricks,
to make money,” he says. “But having met many such people in my
life, I was not surprised.”
(A
shorter version was published in The New Indian Express, Kochi,
Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode)
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