Mala leaves behind rich memories

THRISSUR: Actor Mala Aravindan passed away at a private hospital at Coimbatore this morning. He was 76.
Aravindan was suffering from various ailments for some time and had suffered a heart attack on January 19. He was admitted to the ICU of the hospital on the day.
He was showing signs of improvement over the past two days, but he breathed his last around 6.30am on Wednesday.He is survived by wife, son and daughter.
Aravindan leaves behind a mix of rich memories of a versatile comedian, a passionate character artist and above all, an artist with deep grasp over music.
He was a powerful presence in theatre stages during its vibrant phase in the 1960s and 1970s, and a sure bet for artistic and commercial success of Malayalam film for a long period, especially in the 1980s.
Though widely popular as a comedian, he had performed brilliantly in character roles in films like Bhoothakkannadi, Venkalam, Sallapam, Meesamadhavan, Utsavapittennu and Kanmadam.
In both the theatre and film mediums, his basic asset was the sense of rhythm that he acquired through rigorous training on tabala.
Actor-turned-MP Innocent recalls that even the present-day superstars and directors like Sasikumar used to wait for Aravindan to start shooting in the 1980s .
"He was such an indispensable presence in Malayalam films then, and he primarily drew this stature because of his sense of rhythm," he says.
Aranvindan entered filmdom as a comedian when legends like Adoor Bhasi and Bahadur were dominating the scene. He was forced to evolve a unique style of expression to carve out a space of his own.
Born as the eldest son of excise department official Ayyapan of Vaduvakode in Ernakulam, Aravindan inherited his music sense from his mother Ponnamma, a music teacher. His father died when he was in the upper primary school, and the family shifted to Mala when his mother was transferred to a school there.
Aravindan has acted in over 500 films and several theatre productions ever since he made his debut appearance in film Sindhooram in the late 1960s. It was the absence of an actor in a play that drew Aravindan to acting.
However, his theatre colleague from childhood days and singer Ashtamichira Paraman recalls that Aravindan used to give tips to actors even when he was supposed to remain backstage as part of the playback troupe.
Mala had won the best actor award in theatre but he missed it in filmdom. Paraman says he had shared this grief with his close friends.